The Diadone Method
by m0untainc1imber
Summary: When she thinks no one is looking, Petunia slaps three year old Harry while stuck in traffic. Mafia Lord Salvator Diadone notices and takes action. This is a Harry grows up in the mafia story, with a bit of a twist.
1. The Aquisition

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter One – The Acquisition**

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Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling therefore Harry Potter does not belong to me.

Author's note: This was a story idea that has been bugging me so I've started it. The updates for this story will probably be a little slower than those for my other story, 'Preventing the Future' but I don't think I will put it on hiatus like I did my Merlin one. I know that the original idea here isn't unique but I promise it will deviate from the normal 'Harry kills Voldemort with a gun because he's just cool like that'. Anyway, you're here for the story (I hope) so, enjoy!

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If there was one thing Salvator Zito Diadone hated more than cheaters it was children. Children were loud and obnoxious, they got in the way and ignored you, they made a mess and worst of all, they were rude. Salvator's theory was proving true as he sat in his limo waiting at a red light; he had just come from a rather personal meeting during which more than a few lives had been threatened and large sums of money had been exchanged. Despite the fact that all the windows were up he was being treated to the sound of a child's incessant whining for sweets from the car next to theirs, this wouldn't usually be a problem but they were stuck in traffic, not a place London's richest man liked to be. See, Salvator Zito Diadone was no less than the head of the most feared Mafia in all of Great Britain. As such, he usually avoided mid-day traffic like the plague; however, this particular task had needed to be performed personally and without delay which was how he found himself sitting in the back of his car listening to an annoying child cry like no tomorrow. Finally, Salvator got fed up; there is only so much a man can take before going insane, especially if that person is used to getting his way. Sal rolled down his window – something his bodyguards were continually telling him _not_ to do – and assessed the situation to see if there was _anything_ he could do to get the bloody thing to shut the fuck up. Right next to his limo was a medium-sized sedan with it's windows rolled down. In the front seat there was a dark haired woman who greatly resembled a stork, and in the back were two children, one in a very expensive looking, designer car seat and the other in rather tatty booster seat that was way too large for it. The two boys looked to be about three or four years old. The source of the horrendous screeching quickly became obvious, it was coming from the fattest child Salvator had ever had the misfortune to look upon; the _thing_ was yelling at the top of it's lungs for sweets, it really was quite disturbing. Sal took one look at the situation and, because they weren't moving at the moment, yelled at the mother.

"Will you shut that bloody kid up? Or at least roll up the windows so the rest of us don't have to listen to it?" With that he rolled up his tinted window and watched for the semi-quite of his limo.

The mother whipped her skinny head around so fast she would probably have whiplash for the next week, the look on her face was priceless. However, when she turned around, instead of placing her attention on the crying kid, she backhanded the quite child and told it off for disturbing her "Diddy Darling Duddykins". Then, with a panicked expression on her face she looked around at the other drivers to see if anyone had caught her hitting the child. When she saw that no one was paying her any attention – she couldn't see Sal through his window – she hit the child twice more, a bit harder and told him to shut up or else. The child didn't cry out or make a single noise, in fact, he barely reacted at all.

Salvator blinked twice and then looked closer at the smaller, darker haired boy, his face was covered in bruises. If it weren't for his keen observation skills, Sal wouldn't have noticed them at all as the boy's entire face seemed to have been covered with some sort make-up. The rest of the boy's body was covered in clothing despite the heat, and Sal guessed that there were more bruises under them. It was then that Sal found something he hated more than cheaters and children, and that was an abused child, despite the fact that he hated children. Then the smaller boy locked eyes with Salvator, even though he shouldn't have been able to see through the glass, and they seemed to cry out for help. Something snapped inside the hardened heart of Mafia Lord and he radioed one of his men in the motorcycle guard.

"Vince, come in."

"Vince here, how can I help you?"

"See the silver sedan at 9 o'clock?"

"Yes sir, the one with the children?"

"Yes. I want you to get that dark haired child out of there. Find out the mother's name and address and tell her that the boy is no longer her responsibility and if I ever find out that she has hit another child she will die a slow and painful death."

"Yes sir, consider it done. What would you like me to do with the boy?" If the guard was surprised at this request he didn't show it.

"I will roll down the window and you can hand him to me." Sal had absolutely no idea why he was doing this except for the fact that the child hadn't stopped looking at him the entire time and something about him was calling to Sal.

"Yes sir." Vince said. He was completely baffled by his boss' behaviour and was confused as to why he was having him basically kidnap a child. Vince _had_ seen the mother hit the child but didn't know if Mr. Diadone had or why he was doing something about it. However, he was glad that the boy was being rescued from an obviously abusive situation, no child should have to deal with that. Vince knew first hand what it was like to be abused as a kid and wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy's children.

Vince pulled up next to the driver's window of the sedan and whacked on it with the butt of his gun. He made sure that the woman, and only the woman, could see the gun. She looked terrified but was smart enough to open the window, even if it was only halfway.

"Wh-What do you want?" She asked shakily.

"I need to see your driver's license. Now." Vince said in a _very_ harsh tone.

The woman fumbled around in her bag before hading him her license.

"Okay, _Petunia Dursely_," He said venomously. "Here's what's going to happen; I'm going to write down your name and address, take that nice child of yours and hopefully you'll never see me again."

"WHAT?" Petunia screeched. "You can't take Dudley! He hasn't done anything!"

"You seem to be mistaken, I'm taking the nice one." Vince said, it was fairly obvious that the woman cared nothing for the dark haired boy so there shouldn't be many difficulties. When all he got was a blank look from her he shook his head. "The one with the dark hair?"

"Oh, you mean the freak." She said with a look of disgust. "You're welcome to him, take him and his freakyness as far away as you can."

Vince scowled, he was liking this woman less and less by the second but because he could see the traffic moving a few block up he made it quick. "Good. Now, what's his name?" He had already finished copying her details and figured that if Salvator wanted something with this child it would be a good idea to know who he was.

"His name is Harry. Harry James Potter."

"Birthday and place?"

"July 31st 1980, Godricks Hollow."

Vince wrote this all down and because the traffic moving had been a false alarm, he had time for a few more questions. "Okay, and who are his parents?"

"Those freaks are _dead_ so I don't see what good it will do you." Petunia spat.

"Just tell me their names."

"Fine. Lily and James Potter. Now, are you taking the freak or what? We _are_ sitting in the middle of traffic."

Vince scowled and put his notebook away. Petunia reached back and unlocked the door by Harry, Vince carefully pulled the child out. Then, he turned back and said, "Oh, by the way, if you even hit another child again I will personally see to it that you and your entire family die a slow and painful death.

Salvator was waiting with the window open and Vince handed him Harry along with the notebook. "There you go, sir." He knew better than to ask what it was about.

"Thank you, Vince. Now, I believe traffic is finally moving and your bike is in the middle of the road." With that he closed the window and they drove away, never to see Petunia Dursley again.

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Author's note: Well, there you have it, I hope you liked it. If you have any input/advice/opinions _please_ let me know via a review, us authors really like them.


	2. Antonio Dominick Diadone

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Two – Antonio Dominick Diadone**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I do own the Diadones though, and I think they're cool.

Author's note: Wow, the response to this story was mind boggling. I'm not exactly sure what it is about it but you people flooded my inbox, it made me so happy! Anyway, please enjoy the chapter!

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Salvator sat in the limo holding the little boy as if it was a ticking time bomb. The way the kid was looking at him was rather unnerving, it's vivid green eyes seemed to be boring into his very soul, it was just creepy. He sat the kid down on the seat across from him and started a staring contest, which was a bad idea because the boy just kept looking at him. With a huff that went completely against his tough mafia lord persona he flipped through the notes Vince had left him.

Petunia Dursley - aunt

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Harry James Potter – referred to as 'freak'

Born: July 31, 1980 – Godrik's Hollow?

Parents: Lily and James Potter - dead

other kid: Dudley

"So, Harry Potter is it? Lets see, three years old, dead parents, born in a weird town...okay, you're an odd kid." It was then Sal noticed that Harry hadn't made a single noise, not a one. "Well, at least you're a tolerable sort of child, not crying or anything." He muttered. "Although that's probably because of those bastards you were living with. Whatever, better for me, I don't have to listen to incessant whining."

Sal looked at the kid. "What am I going to do with you?" Then he saw those eyes again, those pleading eyes. "Goddammit, stop looking at me like that!" Harry immediately shifted his eyes away, as if he could understand completely what Sal was saying, then Sal got the shock of his life.

"I'm sorry sir, please don't hit me." Harry said quietly.

"Holy shit! You can talk!" Sal said, he didn't know much about kids but he was pretty sure a three year old, wasn't supposed to be able to speak in complete, grammatically correct sentences.

"Of course I can talk." Harry said. "But Aunt Petunia says even if freaks can talk they shouldn't."

"Okay, what's all this about 'freaks'?" Sal asked, "You don't seem that freaky to me."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I just know I'm one." He really had no idea why his Aunt Petunia called him a freak, just that she did.

"Well, um." Sal had no idea what to say to that, how do you tell a kid they're not a freak when they've been told it their entire lives? He decided that because he had no idea how to deal with children he would just pretend this walking talking three year old wasn't one. "You're not a freak, you're Harry Potter. So stop thinking that."

"Yes sir." Harry said quietly. "But I don't know who Harry Potter is, I think my name is 'boy' but I'm not sure."

Sal looked at the child in astonishment, he didn't know his own name? Those people had a lot to answer for if a three year old could talk perfectly but not know his own name. Well, if those people didn't want the kid then he might as well keep him. After all, he needed someone to look after the family business when he got old and he hated all his nephews. He really didn't want a kid of his own but this one seemed smart and well behaved. "Right, well, your old name was Harry James Potter but if you'd like you can come live with me and I'll give you a new name. That one's a bit plain and wouldn't fit in with our family."

"Family? You mean you're going to be my dad?" Harry asked with hopeful eyes.

Sal sighed, "Yeah, I suppose it does. Fuck, what have I just done?" Harry just smiled.

When the limo and it's guard (another car and four motorcycles) finally arrived back at the Diadone home, which was actually more like a mansion, Harry was sleeping quietly and Sal was trying to figure out what on earth possessed him to decide to adopt a _child_. He hated children, didn't he? As he stepped out of the limo he called to Vince.

"Hey, Vince."

"Yeah, boss?" Vince asked as he walked over from parking his bike. He had a really bad feeling that he was going to end up on baby duty, he knew, along with the rest of the underworld, that Salvator Sal Diadone _didn't _like children. So, he figured that because he was the one who got the kid, he would end up having to deal with it.

"I need you to take this...um...kid. I need you to take Harry and put him in one of the guest rooms. Then call Maria and have her get whatever _stuff _he needs. I'll be in my office talking with my lawyer."

Vince fought the urge to sigh as he picked up the now fully awake boy and started walking to one of the many side doors. "Don't you dare start crying. I don't like kids any more than Sal, and just because I was the one who pulled you out of the god forsaken car doesn't mean I'm your new best friend." However, Vince didn't know that Harry was perfectly able to understand him.

"That's okay. Nobody likes me anyway." Harry said softly. Vince was so completely surprised this little kid could talk, that he dropped the kid.

"Holy fuck!" Vince yelled as he watched Harry drop to the floor as if in slow motion, there was nothing he could do to stop it and he was pretty sure the kid would be dead or maimed by the time it hit the floor because they were almost at the top of the stairs. It was then that he noticed that it wasn't his perception of time that had slowed down...it was the kid. Instead of falling head over heels and breaking bones along the way, Harry was sitting straight up and bouncing slowly down the stairs. When he came to a stop at the bottom, Harry glared up at Vince.

"You dropped me." Harry said with a frown.

Vince just stared at Harry.

Harry clambered to his feet and started making his way up the stairs, awkwardly because after all, he _was _only three.

"But, you...you just..." Vince stuttered. "You're not hurt!"

"So?" Harry asked. Despite his magnificent intelligence he wasn't quite old enough to fully understand the laws of physics, he didn't know that what he did wasn't supposed to be possible, just that it was something he could do that others couldn't.

"Um." Vince really couldn't wrap his head around what happened so he did then next best thing; he pretended it didn't. "Right, well. Lets get you upstairs."

Maria, one of the higher ranking maids in the Diadone household, was extremely surprised to find a small boy sitting in one of the guest rooms and even more surprised when Vince told her that Sal planned on keeping him.

"Sal is keeping a child?" She asked Vince. "As in like, _keeping _keeping?"

"Yeah," Vince said. "I think he's actually going to adopt it and make it his heir or something."

"I don't believe it." Maria said.

"Neither did I, but then, remember how much he hates Giovanni and Ricardo?" Vince asked, referring to Sal's nephews.

"Oh god, they're absolute nightmares, they are. I don't know what their mother was thinking, spoiling them like that." Maria tutted, "They'd ruin the entire family in months."

Vince looked at Harry who was now asleep on the massive bed. "Yeah, I think that's part of the reason he's taking this kid in."

"Really?" Asked Maria, "What were the other reasons?"

"Well, he was in an abusive situation, see all those bruises? They're covered in makeup right now but I'm pretty sure there's more under his clothes. He's also one smart little bugger, three years old and knows how to talk and walk almost perfectly." Vince said, he didn't mention the incident on the stairs because he was pretty sure Sal hadn't known about that particular talent of Harry's.

Maria smiled gently at the boy. "So, what's his name?"

"Harry James Potter. But he seems to think his name is 'boy', we're not completely sure why but I think it has something to do with the abuse thing. I think it was his aunt who was taking care of him, or rather, _not_taking care of him." Vince said with a hard expression. "I'm half tempted to go to their house right now and break every single one of their fingers just for hitting the boy. No child should be treated that way, orphan or not."

"Well, lets get him cleaned up. Do you know if he's wearing a diaper?" Maria asked.

Vince threw his hands up and backed out of the room. "Oh no! No way! There is no bloody way you're making me part of this, I don't want anything to do with a kid. Nothing! I was just told to bring him in to you, nothing more."

Maria hit Vince with one of her signature glares, effectively silencing him. "You will do as you're asked young man. I don't care if you have to change a hundred dirty diapers. You will-" The were cut off by a voice from the bed.

"I don't wear diapers anymore. I can use the toilet like regular people. And you really don't need to worry about cleaning me up, just show me where the bathroom is and I will do it myself." Harry said, slightly annoyed that these people were talking as if he was at the same intelligence level as his cousin the beach ball.

"Oh." Maria said with wide eyes, the child really _was _smart. "Well, in that case I will just go find you some clean clothes to wear, we can't have anyone walking around the Diadone house looking like that."

Harry was about to protest that he didn't need new clothing when the kind lady with the apron disappeared from the door with a parting glare, he didn't have time to protest.

Vince turned to Harry, "Hey, Harry. Um, could you explain what happened on the stairs back there? I'm a little confused."

"Oh, that would be my freakishness. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon always get really mad when something like that happens around me so I try not to let it, but sometimes I just can't help myself. I mean, I didn't really want to get hurt on the stairs of the house that belongs to the nice man who's going to be adopting me. It would be rude and make a mess."

Vince's eyebrows lifted into his hair, the boy was worried about making a mess so he bounced himself down the stairs? "Oh." But then his curiosity got the better of him. "Can you do anything else?"

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, it's kinda like magic, right? So can you do any more?" Vince asked with a childish grin on his face, it wasn't everyday you saw a young boy float himself down stairs and then admit to having done something like it before.

"Um, you won't hit me?" Harry asked, he had to make sure that he wasn't going to get in trouble for demonstrating his freakishness.

"No, I won't hit you. I'll just sit here, on the floor, and watch." Vince said with a wider grin as he plopped himself down on the floor. It looked like he was about to see some real magic!

"Okay." Harry said with a tiny hint of a smile. He was happy that he got to show someone else all that he could do, the spiders in his cupboard weren't a very responsive audience, especially when they were on the receiving end of something rather lethal. He held his hands out in front of him and snapped his fingers together, a small tongue of blue fire appeared on each palm, then he touched his hands together and the fire formed a ball. He looked at the awe on Vince's face and gave a full out grin before he started tossing the ball back and forth between his hands, then he clapped once and it went away. Vince applauded and asked for more.

Vince grinned, "Anything else?"

Harry returned Vince's grin, then he stared intently at the gun in Vince's holster, imagining it in his hand instead, pretty soon it was flying through the air and landing in his hand.

"Oi!" Vince cried. "That's my gun!"

Harry just laughed and sent it back. Then he pointed his finger at the floor and twirled it around faster and faster and a small cyclone slowly appeared between the two of them, had there been any dust in the room it would have been more interesting, but there wasn't. Vince applauded again and waited eagerly for more but he got a bit worried when Harry got a slightly devilish smirk on his face and pointed his fingers at Vince.

"Are you turning me into a frog?" Vince asked suspiciously.

"Nope!" Harry said gleefully, then he lifted his hands up and brought them down fast, a torrent of water dumped itself all over Vince, who yelled in indignation.

"Hey! That is so not okay young man. _You're _the one who's supposed to be cleaning themselves up. Now go!" Harry had just scurried into the bathroom when Maria another maid and a few guards came running into the room.

"What's going on? Is everything –" Maria stopped when she saw Vince. "Um, Vince? Is there something you'd like to tell us?"

Vince really wanted to say that the kid was some sort of magician with a twisted sense of humour when he realised that Harry might not want everyone to know. "Yeah, Harry just doesn't like being teased about his hair." Everyone was bent double with laughter while Vince just stood there and glared at them before huffing and walking off in search of a towel, all the while muttering about retribution against smart-ass gifted kids.

One hour later Harry was dressed in some hastily bought, slightly too big clothing and sitting on a way too large chair in the office of the feared Salvator Zito Diadone, Mafia Lord extraordinaire. Harry and Sal were currently engaging in a staring contest, neither could remember who started it but neither were going to give up; Sal because it was a matter of pride and principle and Harry because it was just too much fun. However, their game was cut short when the door opened and a smartly dressed woman walked in, Sal stood up to greet her and Harry all but fell off his chair to try and stand.

"Ah, Ms. Charleston. A pleasure to see you again." He said with a firm handshake while guiding her to the chair next to Harry.

"And the same to you Mr. Diadone." Ms. Charleston said as she took the proffered seat she looked quite flustered and there were papers sticking out of the top of her bag as if she'd packed it in a hurry. She was a lawyer, a good one, who often represented the Diadones; meaning she could get anyone out of almost anything. It was obvious that she wanted to know why she was here but _no one _questioned the actions of a Diadone, especially if it was Sal. It was also clear that she really wanted to ask who Harry was but again, you don't ask Sal, Sal asks you.

"I apologise for pulling you out of court so quickly but I have an urgent matter to discuss. I found this boy," He gestured to Harry, "Being hit by his aunt in the back of a car this afternoon. I've decided that I would like to adopt him as my heir." When Sal said it that way, it sounded ridiculous, even to himself, but there was something about the kid...

If Ms. Charleston was at all shocked by this announcement she did an extremely good job of hiding it. "I see, shall I assume you would like me to take care of it?"

"Yes, and I would like it done as soon as possible. As you can see he was hurt very badly and I would like to make sure he doesn't go back."

Ms. Charleston nodded but barely covered her frown. "If I may, why this boy? Surely you've seen other children in similar positions and if I may be so bold as to say, you're not know for your feelings towards children." Even though she said this confidently and politely, you could tell she was terrified of questioning the mafia lord's actions.

Sal however, didn't seem to mind. "Now see, I've been trying to answer that question myself for the last two hours. All I can say is that something about him called to me."

With a slightly more visible frown Ms. Charleston asked, "May I speak with the boy?" N_othing _happened in this room without Sal's say so.

"Of course, go right ahead." Sal said with a nod.

Ms. Charleston turned to face Harry. "Young man, what is your name? And please look at me when you answer."

Harry looked up at the strict but kind-looking woman, "I thought my name was 'boy' until today but then I found out it's Harry. Harry James Potter."

If it hadn't been for her 15 plus years working with the Diadone family, Samantha Charleston would have gasped and probably fainted there and then. Samantha was a squib whose sister worked for the Ministry of Magic, in the Department of Mysteries. Sam had heard all about the war; Voldemort, the Death Eaters, pureblood bigotry, Muggle baiting and most importantly, she had heard about the Potters and how Harry James Potter was hailed as the boy-who-lived, the saviour of the wizarding world, the one who defeated he-who-must-not-be-named. She also knew that almost two years ago, at the same time he defeated Voldemort, Harry Potter had disappeared from the wizarding world. Now, here he was, sitting in the office of a mafia lord, a victim of abuse. With all these thoughts racing through her head she was trying to figure out what to do and say; if she said she knew the boy then she'd have to explain how and why, which would break the Statute of Secrecy but if she didn't then the people wouldn't know Harry was safe. She frowned mentally, the wizarding world had obviously abandoned their saviour, maybe they didn't deserve to know he was safe...she decided that the wizards could go screw themselves, they weren't nice to her and they had treated Harry terribly so they had no right to know how he was. Especially if they hadn't checked up on him. These thoughts had only taken a millisecond to pass through Sam's head before she made up her mind.

"I see. Now, Harry, how did your aunt treat you at home? Mr. Diadone says that he saw her hit you and that is why he took you away. Does this happen a lot?"

"No ma'am, she doesn't usually hit me when we're out. But um...when I'm home my aunt and uncle blame me for anything that goes wrong, sometimes its my fault but sometimes not."

"Okay. What happens when they blame you?" Sam asked. She really didn't want to know the answer because she had a feeling that it wasn't a nice one. After all, its not like she was a trained Child Services worker, she didn't have to listen to stories like this on a regular basis. Mind you, she was probably one of the best lawyers around and could take any case and win – hence, working for the mafia – and had worked on a few cases involving children. She wasn't used to dealing with abused kids and didn't really want to hear about it from the child. Still, she had to ask.

"It's not usually that bad, just a few hits or slaps. Sometimes Uncle Vernon gets out an old wooden spoon from the kitchen, that didn't happen before, but I guess now that I'm bigger..." Harry's voice trailed away.

Sam and Sal shared identical looks of horror, there was no way this young boy was going anywhere near that house or those terrible people again. Sam, in a rare show of compassion, gathered Harry into her arms and hugged him as tight as she could. "I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry."

"That's okay, it wasn't you who did it." Harry said with a shrug once she had let him go.

Sal was amazed that the kid wasn't terrified of adults, maybe he was smart enough to know that they were different from his relatives or maybe he just wasn't old enough to have connected 'adult' with 'punishment'. Either way, it's not something a child should have to deal with.

"Ms. Charleston." Sal said, bringing the conversation back on track. "Can I assume you will be doing everything you can to make this happen as quickly as possible?"

Sam nodded her head vigorously. "I will cancel everything for the next week, hopefully it won't take that long but you never know." She grabbed her stuff and hurried out.

"Good day, Ms. Charleston."

On her way out, Sam was already digging into her bag for her phone, she needed to call her sister immediately!

"Hello? This is Rebbecca." A voice answered.

"Oh Becca, I need you to come over as soon as possible. I don't care what is is you're doing just drop it and get to my place in 15 minutes."

"Sam? Is that you?"

"Yes of course it's me. Who else would it be?"

"Okay, I'll be there, but there had better be an extremely good reason for this, I was on my way to a meeting with the Minister and head of my department."

"There is an _extremely _good reason for this. Believe me when I say, it's worth skipping out on the Minister for."

"Okay...I'll see you soon."

Sam jumped in her car and raced home as fast as possible, it was a good thing most of the Diadone employees lived close to the mansion or she would have been caught in even worse traffic than she already was. The second she opened the door, her sister Becca apparated into her living room.

"Start explaining. Now." Becca told her younger sister sternly.

"I found him." Sam said, as if that explained everything.

"Found who?"

"Harry Potter. I found Harry Potter."

"WHAT?" Becca screeched. "Why were you even looking? And how did you do it? No offense, but you're a squib living in the Muggle world."

Sam waved off her sister's slightly derogatory comment. "Okay, first of all, you can't tell anyone."

"Why not? The world deserves to know!" Becca protested.

"Because someone left him in an abusive household and haven't bothered to check up on him in almost two years! How do we know he won't end up back there?"

"Oh." Becca said. "Okay, but still, how did you find him?"

"Actually, my boss kinda, sorta, kidnapped him while he was stuck in traffic and saw the kid being hit." Sam said a bit sheepishly.

"Your boss kidnaps children?" Becca asked, wondering what exactly her sister did for a living.

"Well, um...there's something I should tell you about my boss..." After Sam explained about her role in the mafia, Becca asked why the 'head mafia dude' would kidnap a kid.

"Apparently he's going to adopt him..." Sam said. "Sal said he needs a heir and something about the kid called to him. I gotta say, it must have something to do with magic because Sal usually hates children but now he's offering to adopt one, _of his own free will_!"

Becca started thinking over the situation and thought that maybe it would be a good thing for Harry Potter to be raised in the Muggle world, at least he wouldn't be idolized like he would be in the wizarding world. Also, if he was raised by this Diadone guy he would know how to defend himself, and would know how to deal with idiots. He also wouldn't get taken advantage of. There was the advantage of Sam being around to keep an eye on things.

"Okay." Becca said. "What do you need me to do?"

Sam let out the breath she had been holding. "Thank you. Now, what I'm going to suggest is that Sal change Harry's name completely. What I need you to do is to get Harry Potter completely wiped from the system. You're with the Unspeakables so there shouldn't be too many questions."

"I can do that. But I'm warning you, I won't be able to change anything with the goblins."

"That's fine, just as long as all the wizards have no record of him except hearsay. I want his name off the school list, off the underage magic list, out of any sort of record book. Destroy his birth certificate, medical records. Everything. I want him to have never existed. I don't even want that Dumbles to have a record of him."

Becca frowned. "That's going to be really hard. I can't get into the school, I can get to the school letter lists through the Department of Education but there will still be enrollment information at the school..." She trailed away in thought. "Unless, would you mind bringing one more person in on this?"

Sam frowned. She really didn't want anyone else to know. "Only if they swear on their magic not to tell. I'm going to want that from you too, by the way."

Becca looked a little put out that Sam didn't trust her to keep her mouth shut but also knew that if she swore there would be no chance of letting something slip. "Okay, I'll swear."

"Good, once you dispose of everything about Harry Potter I'm going to need you to a name to the Muggleborn lists, I don't know what it is yet but I will let you know when I do. Now, who is it that you want to bring in?"

"Minerva McGonagall. She used to be really close with Dumbledore but after the whole Harry Potter thing they had some sort of falling out. Apparently she didn't approve of what he decided to do with Potter and also wanted their apparent betrayer to have an actual trial. I guess it makes more sense now that I know Harry's situation. McGonagall was always a caring woman and had a knack for reading people."

Sam frowned. "Okay, but I'm trusting you on this."

"Yeah, I know." Becca said with a frown, "I've gotta go now, I'll wipe what I can about Harry and have McGonagall so the same but you'd better have a name for me soon."

"I'll have it tomorrow." Sam said, "Now, I believe an oath was going to coming along."

"Right." Becca said. "I Rebecca Charleston swear on my life and on my magic to keep all knowledge of the existence of Harry James Potter a secret and not share any information about him to anyone except Samantha Charleston and Minerva McGonagall." There was a swirl of light and then Becca said, "Happy?"

Sam grinned, "Yes. Now, I have an adoption to set up and you have a meeting to explain away your absence from."

Becca scowled at her sister as she apparated out of the house. Sam went into her office and pulled out a sheaf of adoption papers, then she picked up the phone and started calling in favours, of which she had many.

Two days later, Harry James Potter was completely wiped from wizarding and Muggle records and Antonio Dominick Diadone, birth parents unknown, was the adopted son and heir of the feared mafia lord Salvator Zito Diadone. But no one knew because they did it as quietly as possible, and didn't file the papers publicly; those involved didn't know it now, but very soon they would be thankful they didn't announce it right away.

The evening of July 28th, 1982, Minerva McGonagall and Rebecca and Samantha Charleston were sitting around a small table drinking a toast to the Diadones, thankful that even the mafia had a sense of morals; Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore popped a lemon drop in his mouth thinking how good life was, not knowing that his plans for a pliable little hero had just come crashing down; somewhere in the middle of the North Sea a starved black dog shivered it's cell, trying to hold on to it's sanity; and the rest of the wizarding world was completely clueless, as usual.

* * *

Author's note: Well, there you go, chapter two! I wrote this up as quick as soon as time allowed so I hope you liked it! Anyway, it was because of all your reviews that it got done this quickly so, logic dictates that the more reviews I get for this chapter, the faster the next one will be up! Thanks.


	3. The Ultimate Prank

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Three – The Ultimate Prank**

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Disclaimer: Fanfiction. Not mine, never was, never will be.

Author's Note: Here you go guys, I don't have the next chapter read but I'll try to work quick. Enjoy!

* * *

The boy who used to be known as Harry Potter and who used to think his name was 'boy', turned over in his sleep and tried to remember the amazing dream he had been having; he had been taken from his car and brought to a mansion where he had shown his magic to a person who didn't hit him for it. He had talked with a nice man called Vincent, a woman named Maria gave him brand new clothing, he had sat in a big office with a tall man called Sal and a nice woman called Sam. Then he had been given a few toys, a big room, dinner, more clothing and a nice bed. He had met with Tall Sal and Nice Sam a few more times and then three days later he had been brought back to the big office and been given a name. That was the best part of the boy's dream, he had name all to himself, something for people to call him that wasn't 'freak' or 'boy'. Yes, that had been the best part of the dream. He sat up and blinked.

"Oh." The boy said simply as he looked around the room. "It wasn't a dream."

Just then Maria bustled into the room with a pile of towels and some clothing. "Good morning Antonio, how are you today?"

'Antonio.' The word rolled around the boy's mind until his sleepy brain made the connections. "Oh!" He exclaimed. "That's me!"

Maria laughed and wondered how long this was going to last. It had been a week since Antonio had had, well, _become _Antonio and he still woke up every morning a little disoriented and thinking the whole thing was a dream. The boy had been through so much, only just now were the bruises starting to fade.

"Yes child, that's you. I'm glad that you remember who you are, it's expected you know." Maria said with a smile.

"Yeah!" Antonio said excitedly. "I'm Antonio Dominick Diadone, my birthday is July 21st, I'm 3 years old, and the son of Salvatore Zito Diadone, the coolest man in the world!"

Maria raised an eyebrow, "The 'coolest man in the world'? Who exactly told you _that_?"

"Vince, did. He said Sal was a cool man and that he was always going to look out for me." Then Antonio frowned, "You know, my name is really long."

"Well, yes, but it's a nice name." Maria said, "Would you like to have a nickname?"

Antonio grinned, "Yeah! What's a good small name for Antonio?"

"I don't think we need to decide on it right now, there is plenty of time to do that later. And maybe Vincent and Sal-" She was about to say Sal, but remembering the staff meeting last week during which they had all been instructed to refer to Sal as Nio's dad, she quickly changed her sentence. "Maybe Vince and your _father _would like to help as well."

"Okay!" Antonio said cheerfully. "Is that the rest of my clothing? It's so cool that I have my own clothing, it makes me so happy!"

Maria walked over the the wardrobe and placed all the new clothing in it, this time it was all the right size. Then she moved to the bathroom and stacked the towels in the cupboard. "Antonio, remember to drop your dirty clothing down that chute over there and hang your towel up when you're done." Most three year olds weren't trusted to take a shower and dress themselves, but Antonio wasn't a normal three year old." She wasn't used to treating a three year old more like a five or six year old but was working on it. It did help that he _acted _like a five year old, and not the 'toddler' that he was.

"Of course Maria, thank you very much." Antonio said politely before rushing into the bathroom and slamming the door. Funny thing was, despite the fact that the door had been moving extremely quickly, it didn't make a sound.

Maria shook her head, Vince had said the kid had magic but he was the only one who had been treated to a demonstration, The two of them had decided to keep it to themselves for now, Vince only told her because she was going to be around the boy a lot. It was amusing really, Vince had been so reluctant to have anything to do with the boy until he had been left alone with Antonio that first day, which resulted in him being soaking wet. Now they were inseparable. Only Maria knew the actual reason behind Vince's change and the odd little things that happened whenever Antonio was around. Maria hadn't believed him at first but when she saw a blue ball of fire flying around the bathroom one morning she decided that maybe Vince was right. Maria was pretty sure that when they locked themselves in Antonio's room, Antonio was showing Vince all the cool stuff he could do. She just hoped that they would tell Sal sometime soon.

That afternoon, Maria, Antonio and Vince (who had somehow managed to become the kid's full-time bodyguard/babysitter) met up with Salvator in one of the lounge rooms.

"Hi, Sal." Antonio said shyly.

"Hello Antonio, it's good to see you looking so sharp this morning." Sal said with a rare smile, and he was right, Antonio cleaned up really nice, for a three year old. He was struck, yet again, by how attached he was to this boy. There was that something that just drew him in. He nodded at Vince and Maria.

"Sir, we were talking, and Antonio here would like a nickname, or a short name as he likes to call it." Vince said formally, this _was _his boss after all.

"Vince, you can go ahead and call me Sal. It seems that you and Antonio here have been spending a lot of time together and I don't see that changing anytime soon, therefore, you and I should be on a first name basis."

Vince nodded and attempted a smile, it was odd, smiling in front of Sal...especially when Sal smiled back. "Will do."

"That's all well and great boys, but we are here for a nickname." Maria said. "Now, I can think of a few but it's really not up to me. Antonio, Sal, any ideas?"

Sal frowned and said, "Well, I can think of 'Ant' which isn't exactly the most flattering of names, 'Tony' which is rather common but still nice, or 'Nio'. What do you think Antonio? Do any of those stand out to you?"

Antonio grinned, "Nio. Definitely Nio. I've never heard of another person with that name. And it just sounds cool!"

"Then Nio it is." Vince said with a grin. "Sal and Nio Diadone. The world won't know what hit them!"

"Another thing, before you go." Sal said, "We need to decide when to, well, when to _announce _you, for lack of a better term. Right now, all the paperwork has been filled, forms signed etc, but we haven't filed them publicly. When we do, the world will know you exist."

Maria put a hand protectively on Nio's shoulder, "I think we can hold off for at least a month, don't you? We should give ourselves, especially Nio, time to properly adjust first."

Vince nodded, "Yeah, I agree with Maria on this, let us get used to it and then we tell the world."

"Works for me." Sal said. Then, he remembered that it was an extremely intelligent three year old they were discussing, right in front of him. "What do you think Nio?" He asked.

"Um." Nio said, not really knowing or caring, "I don't really mind, whatever you guys think it best."

"Then it's settled. In a month, Nio will officially exist." Sal said with an air of finality, then he did something he hadn't done in a very ling time, he got nervous. "Um. Nio, how about you stay in here and we can try and get to know each other a bit?"

Nio exchanged a glance with Vince and Maria who both nodded encouragingly, "Okay."

"Good." Sal said, then he turned to Maria. "Maria, could you have the kitchens send up a breakfast for two? Nothing too fancy though. And Vince, you can go ahead and go back to whatever you've been doing."

"Well, Bos – Sal, I've kinda taken over bodyguard duty for Nio here." Vince said with a small smile, _And become the recipient of some pretty cool magic displays! _He added in his head.

"Oh." Sal said, he hadn't even thought if it that way. _His_ bodyguards didn't follow him around so much as stalk him in the shadows, he knew they were there, but they weren't out in the open. A kid would obviously need someone with them at all times. _Wow, this whole parental figure thing is going to take a while to get used to..._He thought before saying, "Good, then I supposed you can go find mine, they're probably around a corner somewhere."

"Of course boss, I mean, Sal. See you later Nio."

Nio grinned at his new nickname, he really liked it. "Okay, see ya."

When Sal and Nio were alone in the room, they both felt a bit awkward, not too much, but enough to be uncomfortable. When breakfast arrived, Nio decided to break the silence, after all, he did have a million questions about his new father.

"Um, Sal? What exactly do you do? I mean, what's your job?" Nio asked innocently.

Sal grinned a rather feral grin. "Oh, I'm the head of the Diadone Mafia Empire. I do all sorts of things; legal and less-than."

"That's cool. But what does that _mean_? I mean, what would a normal day be like?"

"Well, lets see, I get to wake up in my enormously over-sized bed, work out and train for a few hours, have a luxurious bath, a scrumptious breakfast – with the best imported Italian coffee, talk with my associates, do evil paperwork, 'talk' with some people, draft some threatening letters, hold a family meeting – this is basically a staff meeting with everyone in the manor, sometimes others as well, listen to and approve ideas or operations, speak with some of my people in the government, really there's lots of things I do. Sometimes I go to art shows and galleries to point out pieces I would like to have and/or sell without having to buy them first. And that's just scraping the top of the barrel."

"Wow." Nio said. "That's pretty impressive."

"Yes it is." Sal said, thinking of all the good times he'd had. He decided to spare the three year old the details of some of his chats and threats, he didn't need to know about some of his more painful ways of information extraction. "And hopefully, someday, you'll be helping me."

"Really? I'll get to help you?" Nio asked excitedly, "Why?"

"Because I plan on making you my heir, you will take over the family business – because that's what this is, a family business – and help it grow and develop."

"Oh. Well, I have a lot to learn before I can help with any of that. I don't know much about crime. Cause that's what the mafia is, right? A Crime organisation?"

"Yes, yes it is. And it's fun and pays quite well."

"Well, what should I do all day? I mean, I don't mind sitting around and watching TV but it's getting rather boring. Can I maybe learn something? I've heard that kids go to school and learn to read and write and stuff, can I do that?" Nio asked, completely unaware that he was a few years too young to even think about going to school.

Sal smiled, yes, he really liked this kid. "Usually people don't go to school till they're five, but I think you're smart enough to start learning now. I can get you a tutor if you'd like, then you can learn as fast as you want. You could also start learning to fight, you're never to young to start that."

Nio _really _liked the idea of fighting, he had been hit so many times in the past and didn't want anyone to ever hit him again, not if he could stop them. "Yes. I would love that! Then I will be able to defend myself."

"Sounds good, I will call some people and try to find a tutor. It's not the sort of thing I'm usually looking for so it might take me a few days, especially because I'll need to find a good one and make sure they're trustworthy. But I'll try and get you started by the end of the week."

Nio ginned, "Thank you, thank you so much!"

"Now, I have paperwork to do and Vince is over by the window waiting for you, or maybe that's Nick, I don't know, one of our bodyguards is hanging out in that shadow. Maybe you can ask him for a tour of the house and grounds. Or hell, he could teach you to shoot a gun. Wait! No, you're three, no guns for a few years." Sal decided he should probably have a talk with Maria about children...she had two grown boys so she she be able to help.

A week later, Sal was introducing Nio to Kimiko Sensei, a middle-aged Japanese woman who could apparently 'whoop every ass in this place' and Mr. Calvetti, an all-round tutor. He also met Katie, the mechanic, who had agreed to explain how cars and motorcycles worked. Nio had asked about cars and bikes and no one could think of a reason not to show him how they worked, it helped that Katie had a younger brother who stopped by every now and then. However, there was still the problem of Sal and Nio's relationship, they weren't really comfortable around each other yet, it's hard to go from unloved nephew to rich son and from tough, Mafia Lord to father. Nio had been keeping his distance from most people because he didn't want to accidentally use magic in front of them, only Vince and Maria knew, he wanted to tell Sal, but he didn't really know how. This problem was fixed two and a half weeks into his new life and he didn't have to figure out how to tell him.

* * *

Nio lay in bed trying to get the vestiges of his nightmare to go away, it was his 'regular' nightmare; a scream, a yell, a high-pitched laugh, a flash of bright green light and then pain and darkness. When he realised he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep anytime soon, he rolled out of bed, put a shirt on and sneaked down to the kitchen even though he wasn't supposed to. Nio was very good at avoiding the night staff and did this on a semi-regular basis, half the fun was getting there without being caught. If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed that he could do an Irish jig in front of them while yodeling like a Swedish Goat-herd and they wouldn't notice. Nio had somehow managed to turn himself invisible to all but himself, and unlike other forms of invisibility, Nio's was complete; you couldn't see, hear or smell him; he left no outline, no foot prints, nothing. It was as if he disappeared completely, you'd have to walk straight into him to know he was there. Also, anything he touched would become invisible too, if he wanted it to. However, this invisibility thing was a blessing and a curse; he didn't actually _know_ that what he touched went invisible, so he didn't know how to control it. He also didn't know he was invisible in the first place...which wasn't a problem until someone else was around, someone you _weren't _trying to avoid.

Usually, the cooks don't like anyone entering their domain, and locked the doors, but Nio had managed to wiggle his way into the hearts of most the staff, including those in the kitchen, and they had shown him one of the back entrances to the kitchen.

* * *

Sal sat in a chair, looking out over the grounds of the Diadone mansion, he was thinking about Harry Potter and Antonio Diadone. The boy was growing on him as a person, Sal had originally thought of him as a good means to good ends (a competent heir), well, those were actually dubious ends because this was the Mafia, but that wasn't the point. Now, Sal wasn't seeing Nio the heir, he was seeing Nio, his son, and he was finding himself wanting to be a father, but he didn't know how. How do you just pop into some unloved kid's life and say 'Hey! I'm you new dad!' Especially if you're a Mafia Lord. Sal sighed, maybe he would ask Maria and Vince, they seemed to have adopted Nio, Vince as a fun Uncle or rather, a much older brother (the term 'uncle' was never mentioned, ever) and Maria as a doting mother. The rest of the staff was quite taken with him too. Sal smiled, even though his Mafia was referred to as a 'family', it was more of a mentality for cohesion, Nio was pulling them together in a more personal way. Nio was making the Diadone Mafia a true family again, just by being there, it was quite impressive. Sal realised that there wasn't anything he could do about this whole father/son situation _tonight _except have a cup of hot chocolate - not that the most feared man in Muggle Britain would admit to having hot coco at two in the morning.

Nio slipped in the side door to the kitchen, silent as a mouse (not that it mattered) and walked over to the cupboard with the mugs, he was too short to even get up on the counter so he closed his eyes and focused really hard one of the mugs. He imagined it leaving it's spot on the shelf and appearing in his hands, he felt a tug in his chest and his fingers tingled for a minute and then the cup was in his hands. _Wicked!_He thought, he loved it when he focused his magic like that...and it worked. It made him feel really good. He grinned and did the same with the tin of powdered chocolate, Nio never noticed the silloute of Sal sitting in the corner and for obvious reasons Sal didn't notice the disappearance of one cup and the coco. However, things got interesting when Nio opened the fridge to get the milk, he didn't know that he was a) invisible and b) turning whatever he touched invisible too, so when he put his hand on the door, the entire fridge disappeared. Sal looked up from his cup of coco just in time to see the fridge wink out of existence. The entire appliance was gone, all he could see was the wall behind it!

"Holy fucking shit!" He yelled, then he looked back down at his cup as if it was the coco's fault, _I'm pretty sure there was just chocolate and milk in this..._He thought before his musings were interrupted by a crash, the fridge returning, and a yell.

Nio heard a shout from the corner and dropped the milk, coco and mug he had been balancing in his arms with a resounding crash, breaking the mug, spilling the milk and making it look like a coco bomb had gone off in the kitchen.

"Gah!" Nio yelled.

"Fuck!" Sal yelled in response, "It's back! And holy mother of god, that's a mess!"

Nio, having only just seen that it was Sal in the corner, wondered what on earth he was talking about. "What's back?"

Sal shivered, there was a voice coming from the middle of the mess, he was pretty sure he was hallucinating. "Who-Who's there?" He asked shakily; there wasn't much that could shock or surprise Sal but this certainly fit the bill.

Nio walked over and stood in front of the man who was his new father. "What do you mean 'who's there'? It's me, Nio. What, are you blind or something?"

"Um, Nio, either I'm hallucinating or you're hiding, cause I sure as hell can't see you." Sal tried his best to stay calm but when the disembodied voice of your newly adopted son starts talking to you, it's rather hard not to panic. It was only because of some of the strange shit he'd seen in his life that prevented him from doing so.

"Okay...that's new. Oh cool! I'm invisible! Am I invisible? I can still see myself...but you can't!" Nio said excitedly, "Nice, I've never been invisible before!"

Sal was proud of himself for not fainting. "Is there a way to make yourself visible again? Please?"

"Um. I don't know." Nio said quietly.

"Well, how did you make yourself invisible in the first place?" This was something Sal could do, solve problems, he was good at solving problems.

"I guess I just didn't want to be seen, I was sneaking down here for some coco – that stuff is good, you know – and I was trying to not have the guards notice me because they would just send me back to bed."

Sal frowned. "So you just wished yourself invisible? Unbelievable."

"Well, it's not _that _unbelievable, I've done stranger." Nio said offhandedly.

Sal's eyebrows arched to incredible heights, just who had he adopted? "I'm going to pretend I didn't here that for now. So, if you wished yourself invisible, why don't you just wish yourself visible again?"

"Okay!" Nio said cheerfully, then he focused really hard on being seen again and he reappeared.

"Good god, it's really you." Sal said faintly.

Nio grinned, "Wicked! Just wait till I show Vince!"

"Vince?" Sal asked, "Why would you show Vince?"

Nio looked a little guilty, "Because he's the only other one who knows I can do this stuff. Well, I think Maria might know but she hasn't said anything. Anyway, it was Vince who found out."

"Found out?"

"That I'm magic." Nio whispered, he knew he wasn't going to be thrown out, Vince had promised that, but he didn't want to make Sal mad by yelling it.

"You're WHAT?" Sal said loudly, too loudly apparently, because Nio look a step back looking a little apprehensive. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. But did you say _magic_?"

"Yeah." Nio said quietly. "That's why my aunt and uncle called me a freak, because I can do magic. Vince just says I'm special though."

Sal sighed and rubbed his face, this was too much for two in the morning. But kinda interesting too. "Okay...what else can you do?" He asked with a bit of trepidation, after all, he was looking at his three year old, magic-wielding, adopted son.

"Oh, I can do tons of stuff. I can make things fly, I can make wind, spray water, play with fire, I can heat things up and cool them down, change hair colours – mine and other peoples' – and now I can go invisible too! Also, sometimes random things just happen. Maybe when I get older I can do more stuff but Vince says I have to wait and find out."

Sal blinked. That was so cool! Now he understood why Vince spent so much time with the kid, Nio was just awesome! And that coming from a Mafia Lord. "Wow." He said. "That's amazing. How long have you been able to do this for?"

"Well, it all came at different times, but I've been able to move things and make them fly for as long as I can remember. Sometimes I would do it without even thinking about it, that's what used to get me into so much trouble. Also, I can't always control it, I'm getting better because I can make things happen when I want them to, but they still happen other times as well."

These abilities would certainly explain his relatives treatment of him, especially if he couldn't always control them, it was too bad really, Sal agreed with Vince on the fact that Nio was just special. "Okay, well, I'm not going to get mad at you for it, but I don't think you should do it where other people can see you, they might get scared or want to take you away to run a bunch of tests."

"Yeah, that's what Vince said. He also said I should tell you but I didn't know how, I guess I don't have to worry about that any more." Nio grinned.

Sal smiled back, "Well, Vince is a pretty smart guy. I just feel kinda left out. I'm working on being your father, I'm supposed to know things like this." _And I don't like being out of the loop..._He added to himself.

Nio looked a little guilty, "Yeah, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just not used to having a father so I don't know what to do with one."

"That's fine." Sal said. "I'm not used to having a son, I never even thought I'd get married. How about we try this whole father/son thing out? Nobody except the people in this house know about you right now, in fact, come to think of it, they're the only people who know I'm not married. I tend to keep my personal life to myself, even from the rest of my family. They just assume I have a wife and I haven't been inclined to dissuade them of that assumption, they might start throwing women at me. And that would just be annoying." Then a thought occurred to Sal, an amazing idea that would be really cool if they could pull it off. It would save him a lot of time trying to convince people to allow him to make Nio his heir... "Nio, I just had an idea, but I want to run it by you."

"Okay." Nio said uncertainly, the look on his 'father's' face was one of extreme thoughtfulness, whatever this idea was, it was big. "Go ahead."

"What if we tell people that you're _actually_ my son? I mean, we both have black hair, yours is scruffy but if you grow it out a bit it will look a lot like mine; we both have green eyes, yours are much brighter and much more green but they are both green; if you spent some time in the sun your skin would be tan like mine; we both have athletic figures; and well, we have the same last name..." A grin started forming on Nio's face, it would be so amazing if they could pull this off, he would have a _real _family, not just an adopted one. People wouldn't question him and his 'father', it would be perfect! Sal continued, "No one knows anything about my personal life, we could say that 'my wife' was a shy lady and didn't want to be pushed into the public sphere, then she got pregnant with you and didn't want to put you in danger, then, right after you were born, she was diagnosed with cancer and died a few months ago. Now, we can plant a rumor that I have hidden my son away until he was old enough to handle the pressure. When the rumor gets out and people start asking questions we will have to answer and then the world will know you exist!"

Nio laughed. "I love it, if we can get people to believe that, then we deserve an award of some kind."

"That's the beauty of it." Sal said, completely taken with this idea. He loved creating things from nothing, twisting them around to suit him and then making people believe them, tricking people was fun, and so very satisfying when done correctly. He had even loved it as a child, before he really understood what the family business and his inheritance was – while his mother still protected him from the world – he had loved pranking anyone he could. This would be the ultimate prank, if it worked. There were only two variables that could make this fall apart, Nio and the household staff, neither of which would probably be much of a problem. Nio was extremely smart, already thought it would be great fun, and understood the seriousness of the charade. And the staff, well, they were just about as loyal as they come. There were still things that could go wrong but overall, it looked like it might just work, the perfect scam. Then Nio said something that sealed the deal, at least on his end.

"But what about the adoption paperwork? Won't people wonder what happened to it?" Nio asked.

_If the boy can think of things like that at age three, he can pull this off._Sal thought. "That's the great thing, remember a few weeks ago when we decided to wait to file the papers and announce your existence? Well, we were going to file them next week! Nothings happened yet!"

Nio grinned. "You're sneaky. But what will we do with the actual papers?"

"We'll shred then burn them." Sal said, that was the only way to be sure of the elimination of paper evidence. Just shredding allowed for the possibility of extremely dedicated individuals taping them back together and just burning could leave little scraps, no matter how careful you were. Together though, it was foolproof, as long as you got all the papers.

"Oh! Can I do the burning, please, please, please?" Nio asked jumping up and down. "I can burn each paper a different colour!"

Sal laughed, and not the one made to terrify people, a deep throated, full bellied laugh. "Yes, you can do the burning, and in any colour you like, just as long as I get to watch." This could be really fun to watch, a three year old playing with coloured fire...priceless.

And that was the beginning of a legendary relationship, Sal and Nio Diadone, father and son, pride of the Mafia Empire; known and feared by the whole crime world. And everyone outside of the manor thought they were actually father and son, no one questioned the inheritance, no one questioned the validity...it was brilliant.

The next morning saw Nio watching a meeting with Samantha Charleston, who had been promoted to personal lawyer for the Diadones (an extremely well-paid, demanding and satisfying job that was basically life insurance in and of itself) and John Doe, the best forger in England, from behind a tinted glass window, as much as Sal trusted John, he wasn't ready for Nio to be 'out' yet. Sam destroyed all evidence of the adoption and filled in and endorsed all the birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates, medical forms, hospital records, prescription histories, cremation orders and many other types of paperwork and official documents Mr. Doe drew up. No one (except Sam, Nio and Sal), who worked on this creation, knew what Nio's original name was or got to see him (this worked because they just needed a baby picture and they used a random one from the Internet), not even Mr. Doe. This was a very good thing because the reason John Doe's forged papers were so good, was that he used magic to make them perfect; his real name was Remus Lupin, the wealthiest werewolf in existence. He never saw the boy whose papers he was making and never knew he was helping erase Harry Potter from existence.

One of the perks of being Salvator Diadone was that when you want something done fast, it's done. So, two days later, Antonio Dominick Diadone was the hidden son of Salvator Zito Diadone and Francesca Carmine Marcello-Diadone. Sam made sure that her sister got the new information and Becca changed the Ministry records to reflect these changes and then passed the information along to Minerva who did the same at Hogwarts.

With a small smile and a nod, Sal took a sip of his coffee and looked at his son, "Okay, Nio." He said. "I think you better start calling me 'Dad'."

Nio grinned, "Sounds great, Dad."

* * *

Author's note: In my story, the reason Lupin always looks so shabby is that he can't have people asking how a werewolf manages to make so much money. He has two houses, his cottage and a penthouse in London, and a whole other wardrobe etc. I refuse to believe that Lupin would be so poor on purpose, he has _magic_ for goodness sake. Anyway, for my Lupin, life is good and it's all an act. He can get the ingredients for the Wolfsbane, and is good at brewing it. (I also refuse to believe that a werewolf wouldn't be able to make that potion. Even if he's shit at every other potion in the world, he would have made a concerted effort to get that one right.) I mean, come on! Remus was supposed to be smart, smart people use all the resources available to them. It says in the books that he even spent some time in the Muggle world: Muggle world + magic + smart werewolf = rich werewolf. Simple math. Right, yeah, I'll stop ranting now.

Reviews are nice and will help me write faster. Hint hint, nudge nudge.


	4. Growing up with Crime

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Four – Growing up with Crime**

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Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.

Author's note: Sorry this took so long, I had an idea for chapter six...so I wrote it. Anyway, here's this one. Enjoy!

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The morning after Nio had been introduced to Kimiko Sensei, he found himself being woken up at five in the morning with a bucket of ice water dumped over the head. Sputtering he sat up and came face to face with his new martial arts teacher, Kimiko Shinomia. She was a very short woman whose long, graying hair was tied up tightly, she was probably over 40, but you never ask a woman those sorts of questions. Despite her age, Kimiko had a young, hard face with bright eyes and she could beat any of the guards in a fight, fair or unfair, in under ten minutes.

"Up!" She said sharply and shoved a small bundle of white cloth at him. "You have five minutes then I want you at your door." Then she strode graceful out of his room.

Nio sat in his bed for almost a full minute trying to figure out what just happened, it only took his very smart three year old brain another ten seconds to realise that he now only had four minutes to get dressed. He jumped up, stripped and then tried to figure out how to put the thing on, he managed the pants okay, and he got the shirt figured out but he couldn't for the life of him get the belt to stay properly. It might have had something to do with his small fingers but it was just as possible that he had never had to tie anything before so he didn't know how. However, in less than the allotted time he was standing outside his door, waiting for his Sensei to come back.

Kimiko took one look at Nio and had to suppress a laugh that was not befitting of her position. "Come here Nio, I'll show you how to tie this." She also adjusted the rest of his clothing so he actually looked like the student he was supposed to be.

Nio blushed, he prided himself on being able to do things on his own and here he couldn't even put clothing on properly, but he didn't dwell on it, instead his just took careful note so he would be able to do it himself next time. "Thank you." He said quietly.

"You're welcome. Now, follow me, I'll show you how to get to the training areas. You'll have to work in the same area as the guards but don't let that distract you, if anything, when you're taking a break, you can watch and learn." They got to a huge open area that was under a glass dome, if Nio had know what they looked like, he would have thought it looked like a miniature sports stadium, just not as tall. There was a big running track all the way around the room, whole sections were covered in blue mats of varying softness, there were exercise machines scattered around, racks of wooden and not-so-wooden swords and staffs and even a few sets of punching bags. But best of all, there was a massive climbing wall all along one end.

Kimiko led the way to a small corner which had obviously been cleared just for their use, because even though the room was full of men and women exercising, fighting and playing? Some even looked like they were dancing, but it was a rather violent dance so maybe not.

"First things first, I'm Kimiko Shinomia, but to you I am Sensei. I will be teaching you my personal form of martial arts. There are many different traditional fighting techniques from many different countries, I have learned all of them at one point or another in my life and have since developed a type of fight which combines many of the best attributes of each. The main contributors are judo and karate with a bit of aikido thrown in balance things out and give it a bit more grace. Because you are so young," Nio frowned but let her continue. "We will be starting with the basics. You must develop and enhance your sense of balance as well as build up a core of strength."

Nio looked around the large room, he saw some men and women in outfits similar to his having a spectacular fight where neither seemed to be winning or losing, he wanted to do _that_ and here his teacher was telling him to balance and 'build strength', whatever that meant.

Kimiko saw what had caught her student's attention and sighed, "Nio, I know you don't like it but you have to start small. Look at their bodies, their arms and legs." Nio did as he was told and he watched their long limbs hitting and blocking, whipping out and pulling back in the blink of an eye. "Good, now look at your own." Kimiko didn't really want to do it this way, but she had to make Nio understand that he just wasn't ready yet.

Nio looked down at his short arms and legs. His frown deepened when he realised what he teacher was trying to say. "I'm too small, aren't I?" He asked.

"Yes you are. You have to wait another year or so until you're big enough to learn any real moves. I'm sorry but that's just the way things are. If you eat lots of food and do some of the other exercises I'm going to show you then you will be ready faster."

When his Sensei said this, Nio smiled, he would do what ever it took to learn those cool moves. "Okay. Tell me what to do."

They spent the next hour going over small things Nio could do to get himself ready. Kimiko had ordered a balance beam which should arrive in a few days as well as a set of smaller hand holds and harness for the rock wall at the end of the gym. She showed the three year old some one and two foot balancing positions as well as how to practice a hand stand against the wall. By the end of the hour Nio was excited beyond belief as well as a bit hungry, which was why he found the next activity extremely frustrating.

Kimiko took Nio to a much smaller room, which, while not a dome, had many windows and a glass ceiling. "Now, usually we will do this first, and I expect you to do it even on the mornings I'm not with you, but because I have to talk you through it we had to wait until everyone else was finished. I'm going to teach you something called meditation. This is the art of clearing your mind and becoming one with yourself. Many of the people in the house, Sal included, meditate in the morning and sometimes in the evening as well. This room is set aside solely for this purpose. Meditation helps to settle your soul, it will allow you to control your emotions and better understand yourself and the world around you. The first step is breathing..." Kimiko then explained the basics of meditation and instructed Nio to be here at quarter past five _every_ morning to practice.

Nio was slightly put-out to learn that after every lesson with his Sensei they would be learning a bit more about meditation because that meant putting off breakfast for even longer. But, she said this was important to learn, so learn he would. Especially if it would help him with the arts thing. Nio was old enough to know that for regular people (not freaks or beach balls) to get what they want, they usually have to do something first. If uncle Vernon wanted money, he had to work; if aunt Petunia wanted flowers, she had to plant them; and now, if Nio wanted to fight, he'd have to meditate and balance first. This, he understood. But, he was still a three year old boy and a hungry one at that.

* * *

As Nio grew so did his magic. Even over the first few months, Vince and Sal saw marked changes in what he could do. When Vince found out that Nio kept finding new things he could do, even if they were little things, he started asking questions. Many of Nio's discoveries could be traced back to Vince and his questions.

"If you can change other people's hair can you change yours?"

"Dude, that was awesome! How did you do that?"

"Hey Nio, I had an idea, you know how you can go invisible? Can you make other people invisible too? Without touching them?"

"Remember that water you dumped on me? Well, you could trick people into thinking it's raining."

"Gah! I hate ice. Nio, can you magic this away or something?"

The learning never stopped.

* * *

When Nio was three and a half, Vince and Sal decided that it was high time Nio had some friends his own age.

"Nio, I have someone I would like you to meet." Vince said after Nio had finished his breakfast with Sal.

"Okay!" Nio replied with a grin, Vince always had interesting things to show him so whatever this was it would bound to be good. They walked down to the rather extensive garage and then, much to his surprise, they walked to another semi-hidden one that Nio hadn't seen before, which was saying something because he had explored most of the mansion already. The new garage was massive and held a few vehicles in various states of repair, Nio thought it looked like one of those garages you took your car to to get it fixed, then he realised that he really shouldn't be surprised, after all, Sal had his own personal everything, why shouldn't he have his own car repair shop?

Nio looked around, there was an old, bright blue, zippy little sports car (A/N: a 1965 MGB GT, just in case you wanted to know) up on what he thought looked like a mini elevator thingy, a motorcycle (A/N: a BMW R1200 roadster – I want one) partially assembled – or possibly dissembled, Nio couldn't tell – on a stand and a vintage Mustang up on blocks. There was a pair of boots attached to what looked like black cargo pants sticking out from under the Mustang.

"Oi! Grease Monkey! I brought a friend." Vince called. There was thump, a yelp and a clatter followed by a string of muffled swear words, then a young woman rolled out from under the car. She looked to be about 20, had smudges all over her face, her clothes were a testament to the cleanliness of working on cars all day (meaning that they were a mess) and her hands looked like their new best friend was black paint. But what really caught Nio's attention was her shockingly red hair, it looked completely natural, was chopped short and didn't seem to follow the rules of gravity. It seemed to be trying to see exactly how many different ways it could fall around her head, it had black streaks in it, some of which might have been grease but it was hard to tell. She looked like the epitome of cool.

"I thought I told you not to call me that!" She said with a grin as she wiped her hands on her pants, which really didn't do anything to help their blackened state but hey, it was the thought that counts...

Vince dramatically placed his hand over his heart as if in severe pain, "Oh, how you wound me!" He said in a pitiful voice. Nio stifled a laugh.

Then the girl flipped Vince the finger and shifted her attention to Nio. "Hey, you must be Nio!"

"Yup, that's me." Nio said enthusiastically. "But I'm pretty sure you have a name other than 'Grease Monkey'."

"Why yes, I do." She said as she glared at Vince who put his hands up in surrender.

"Nio," Vince said. "I'd like to introduce you to Katie Prewett, genius mechanic. If it's broke, she can fix it."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Katie but aren't you kinda young to be the mechanic?"

"Maybe, I turn 20 next week. But these babies just speak to me." Katie said as she stroked the Mustang.

"Wow, did you go to school for it, or did your dad teach you or something?"

Vince burst out laughing, "Cris teach mechanics? Oh that's great!"

Nio frowned, "You know her parents? I thought you just worked together? Are you like boyfriend girlfriend? Vince! Why didn't you tell me?"

Katie mimed puking, "Eww, gross. First, he's like _30_ but he's also like, my second cousin twice removed on my mother's side or something randomly complicated like that. But yeah, my dad couldn't teach me a thing. He's an _accountant_." She said with a grimace. "That's like, the most boring job in the world." She shivered, "Uhh, he wanted me to go to _college_ to, and I quote 'Do something with my life'. Bloody wanker."

"Aww, don't be like that." Vince pretended to comfort her but he turned around and winked at Nio, "Katie here just wishes she was a Jameson like me."

"Hey!" Katie punched Vince's shoulder. "I'm a honourary Jameson, your entire family knows that!"

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, we came down here so Nio could meet you and see if Drew was around." Vince said.

"Oh, he has detention today, who would've known that replacing all the white board markers with permanent ones was against the rules?"

Nio frowned, "That's like the easiest thing to do. How the hell did he get caught?"

"He put the stolen markers in his desk..." Katie said, hiding a smile, "And he's a terrible liar."

"Well that's just stupid. I'm not even four and I know better than to _keep_ the evidence."

Vince laughed, "Yeah, well, you're a genius three years old and he's a normal nine year old. He's the main reason we came down here, other than to annoy Katie, you need friends your own age. I'm one of the youngest guards around and I'm 30."

"Yeah, so? You don't _look_ 30." Nio said petulantly.

"Thanks, but that doesn't change the fact that you're _three_ ("And a half." Nio muttered.) and need younger influences in your life. You can't be grown up all the time."

Katie grinned as she looked behind them, "Hey Drew! Get over here you tiny lump!"

A young boy with the same brilliant red hair came flying into the garage on a well-worn skateboard. "Yo! Was up?" He came a stop just centimetres from where Katie was standing and gave her a high five followed by some strange handshake. Then he notice Nio, "Hey! I'm Drew, who're you?"

Nio grinned, he already like this kid, "I'm Nio. It's great to meet you!"

Drew looked at his sister sharply and waved his arms around while trying (and failing) to whisper, "Is this Nio and in Antonio as in your Big Boss' kid? The one who just came out of hiding or something?"

"Excuse me." Nio said waving at Drew, seriously annoyed, "I'm right here. And yes, I'm Antonio Diadone, if you have a problem with that then I'll just leave."

"No!" Drew said a bit louder than was necessary. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude it's just that you're like, important and stuff. I didn't think I'd ever, like, meet you or anything! And you look so...normal."

Katie rolled her eye. "Drew, just shut up. You're digging your self a hole. Nio, meet my brother, Andrew Prewett, he has a severe case of foot in mouth disease. But don't worry, it's not contagious. Usually."

Nio couldn't help it, between Drew's face and Katie's comment he burst out laughing, closely followed by Vince.

From that day on, Nio and Drew would meet up almost every day of the week to do kid stuff. Even though there was a five year age difference neither of them really cared. Over the years, Drew taught Nio to skateboard and play the drums and Nio taught Drew how to lie convincingly and how to prank properly. Between the two of them, they drove the staff crazy and gave Vince and Katie many laughs – at the expense of many others. But it was all worth it, Nio had a friend in his own generation.

* * *

On his fourth birthday, Nio got what he deemed the best birthday gift ever; he was finally allowed to learn the actual fighting techniques instead of just exercising and working on balance etc. _and_ he got to learn how to shoot. Kimiko Sensei took things slowly at first but it quickly became obvious that fighting came as easily to Nio as walking to others. It only took five months for him to be proficient enough at hand-to-hand so Sensei introduced him to his first weapon, a short staff, then a few months later to a long sword then to the double swords, then a baton, the list grew and grew until his fifth birthday. On his birthday he was given his own set of weapons, sized just for him. It didn't take long for him to become a force to be reckoned with in the training gym, and a year after starting the weapons he was almost unstoppable. The day shift of guards – who he trained with in the morning after meditation – joked with him that he had an unfair advantage of being a magical ninja, they had no idea how close to the truth they were. Because it was true, Nio's magic was developing and helping him to learn and grow, by the age of five he looked more like an eight or nine year old and a big one at that. He was also starting to have more and more bouts of accidental magic, Nio was becoming increasingly annoyed that he couldn't keep track of his magic all the time, and that it had started to do things without him. It was frustrating.

Everything came to a head when Nio was five and a half and Kimiko started teaching him more about meditation.

"Now, the next step in the meditation process is connecting with your soul, finding that which makes you, _you_." Kimiko told Nio in a gentle voice. "When you go into your meditative state I want you to imagine that there's a ball of light nestled deep in your heart. Once you've got that image in your mind, try to feel as thought you're sinking into the light. Try to imagine that the light is all around you, it is filling you up, imagine that it is so much a part of you that it seeps through your skin and surrounds you. Bathing you in- HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" Kimiko screamed before swearing profusely in Japanese.

Nio, his concentration sufficiently shattered, yelled and opened his eyes as well. His time spent among the guards was then evidenced by the extremely foul language pouring from his impressionable five year old mouth, ending with the slightly lees inventive, "SHIT!"

What had happened was that in 'finding the light', Nio had literally _found his light_. He was shining a bright white gold and the entire room was lit by his glow.

"Oh, this is so not good." Nio groaned as the light dissipated.

Kimiko blinked. It was good that unlike most older Japanese women, she wasn't superstitious, or even religious at all, so she didn't freak out and start calling him a spirit or demon or something. What she _did_ do was emulate a gold fish; he mouth opening and closing and opening again.

Nio sighed. "Sensei," He said. "I think there's something you should know."

With an expertly arched eyebrow Kimiko gestured for him to continue, words were still a bit beyond her at the moment.

"See, I don't how why, but I can do magic, I've never made myself glow before though, it's new, and SO cool! But you can't tell anyone, the only other people who know are my dad, Vince and Maria."

Kimiko nodded as she finally started to come to grips with what she'd just seen. "Okay. I can see why you want to keep it under wraps but as someone teaching you physical fighting I think it's a good thing that I know. I mean, is this triggered by emotions or something? Cause the last thing I need is for you to blow something up in the gym, or light someone on fire."

Nio couldn't help but be impressed by his Sensei, even thought she nothing about magic, she was almost spot on with her guess as to the emotion thing. "Yeah, it is sometimes triggered by emotions, also wishes and desires. I didn't use to be able to control it very well, but after those first few weeks of meditation, when you were telling me about the importance of controlling emotions, especially anger and fear, I've been getting better at keeping it from doing anything drastic when I'm around other people."

"Oh." Kimiko said. "Well, I'm glad I could help you control it. But, I think we're going to have to find a new place for you to meditate, especially if you're trying to keep this a secret. I'd love to hear exactly what happened when you started to glow, maybe we'll have to take a new approach to your meditation, help control and develop this magic of yours. _And_ I would like to see what else you can do, if you don't mind."

Nio grinned, "I'd love to explain it all to you and a demonstration will be coming in short order. Why don't you come have breakfast with my dad and I? We can tell you all about it." He said excitedly.

Kimiko looked unsure, despite the fact that she was one of Nio's oldest and most important teachers, she'd only ever met Salvator Diadone in an official capacity. "I don't know, breakfast is your guys' thing. It's your personal alone time with your father, I don't want to intrude."

"Oh come on Sensei. I know you want to hear all about my magic and I'm too hungry to do it now." Nio whined, for once acting his age.

Once Kimiko got over her awkwardness of being in a casual social situation with Salvator 'call me Sal' Diadone, she had a great breakfast and learned that there was a _lot _more to her student than met the eye, and that was saying something because he was pretty damn impressive with his hands, weapons or a gun.

From then on, Vince, Kimiko and Nio meditated in a separate room and Kimiko taught him all she knew about calming your mind. She walked Nio through exploring the more mental and emotional side of his magic. Considering she knew absolutely nothing about anything magical, she was a wonderful teacher, and confidant.

* * *

Every morning after breakfast with his dad, Nio and Sal would hole up in Sal's office. No one, not even their personal bodyguards, knew what they talked about or did but whatever it was, they both loved it.

Father and Son covered everything from espionage and interrogation (non-violent at first) to politics and balancing legal and non-legal accounts.

By the time Nio's sixth birthday was on the horizon, he was as close to a perfect shot as someone could get, almost unbeatable with every fighting style/weapon he knew and well on his way to being an unstoppable force in the less-than-legal community.

* * *

Two months after Nio turned six, Kristina, one of the few female guards, interrupted Nio's morning exercises, he had literally _just_ picked up his weapon.

"Nio! Vince! Kimiko! You have _got_ to get down to the firing range! There's this new guy, Evan, Sal hired him yesterday and he's a perfect shot!" The words nearly tumbled out of Kristina's mouth.

"_Really?_" Nio asked, narrowing his eyes. "Better than me?" Even though his voice was level the others could tell that he was getting angry. Nio was the perfect shot around here, and as much as he liked competition, he was rather territorial.

The fact that Kristina hesitated before answering his question spoke volumes. "Um. We don't know." She said quietly.

Vince and Kimiko caught each other's eyes, this wasn't good. The title of 'Best Shot' was something Nio had worked hard to get and he was _very_ defensive of it.

Nio's jaw dropped, someone was even close to him? That was impossible, he could hit almost anything, he was way beyond the skill level of anyone, even if he was only six. His face darkened, how dare anyone try and take his spot at the top? He threw his staff to the ground and stormed out of the gym with a growl. "We'll see about _that._"

The three adults were shocked at Nio's behaviour but then they remembered that he _was_ only six, and most six year olds still threw fits. Nio was allowed to overreact to things every once in a while.

Kristina stared wide eyed at where Nio had just stood, "I didn't think a kid could even _make_ that expression."

Kimiko blinked, then she grinned. "Well, what are we waiting for? I'm not missing this for the world!"

All of them raced down to the firing range as fast as they could. They got there just in time to see Nio throw the doors open with a crash.

"Okay." Nio spat. "Who is it?"

13 pairs of eyes widened as they looked at a seriously _pissed off_ Antonio Diadone, it was rather frightening. Then 12 fingers pointed at an extremely shocked man. Nio scowled as he took in the new man's appearance; he had average brown hair tied back in a short pony tail, storm gray eyes and was almost as tall as, if not the same, height as his dad. It was strange though, there was something familiar about the guy but he couldn't place it, it was as if he knew him. This just made his scowl deepen.

"Hmph." Nio walked over to the man who was threatening his title. "I'm Nio, you must be Evan." He said flatly as he offered his hand.

Evan's first impression of Nio was not to mess with him, the second was that even though Evan knew Nio was six, he looked more like ten. Nio's very black hair would have almost hit his shoulders if it wasn't tied back, his skin was naturally tanned a honey-gold colour, he had a tall frame covered with wiry muscles and he had the most brilliant green eyes. He looked very familiar but Evan reall didn't have the time or braincells to think about it right now. He gulped and shook the kid's hand, "Evan White, nice to meet you."

Nio then gave him a sickly sweet smile, "I heard you're a good shot."

"Um, yeah." Evan decided it would not be a good idea to tell the scary little kid that he hadn't touched a gun until two days ago, which was true. He had been hired after they saw that he was almost perfect, despite having never shot a gun before. "I'm okay."

"Good for you." Nio said, not dropping the smile. "What do you say to a bit of friendly competition?"

Evan paled, 'friendly competition'? The kid looked like he was ready to shoot _him_. He also couldn't believe that he was scared shitless by a six year old, mind you, from what he'd heard, this kid was dangerous. "Um. Okay." _It's not like I have a choice._ He added to himself.

"Great!" Then Nio's smile faded to a stony expression, "And don't even think about holding back. I'll know if you do."

"Right. Got it." Evan said, but there was no way he was going to do his best. He didn't want to know what would happen if he beat the kid. Just as he was thinking this, Nick and Kristina came up to him.

"I know what you're thinking and don't." Nick said, seriously.

"I don't know how he does it, but that kid has ways of knowing, he can spot a lie in the dark and he can read your body language better than anyone." Kristina added.

Than Kimiko joined them, "He will be more upset if you let him win than if you beat him, so for the sake of your health, don't hold back. I'm not kidding."

Evan looked sick, maybe it would be better to do his best...

After grabbing his gun and a pair of ear plugs and ear muffs, Nio walked over to where Evan was standing and he had to suppress a smirk, he was six and this thirty something man was afraid of him.

_Thanks dad!_ Nio thought before speaking to the guy. "Okay, we'll flip to see who goes first, your coin, if you have one." A quick magical peek into Evan's pockets showed that he didn't have any coins so Nio magicked a five pence in, how was he supposed to remember exactly which coins were weighted?

When Evan brought out the five pence he asked, "Heads or tails?"

"Tails." Nio said confidently, "Heads goes first." The coin was handed to Kimiko who flipped it.

"Heads. Evan, you're up first." Kimiko said, stifling a grin when she heard Evan's groan.

Evan put his ear plugs in and popped his earmuffs on, stepped up to the window and released the safety. Nio had Nick set the level to 'Insane Random', the only person who had managed to get through this without wanting to rip their hair out was Nio. Nick took pity on Evan and said, "I'm going to give you a trial run first, just so you can get an idea of what you're up against. It's on random so you won't know exactly what's coming the second time around but at least you'll be prepared. It also means that Nio won't know the pattern, cause that would be an unfair advantage."

Evan had just enough time to wonder what the hell this could be before the countdown started. From then on it was a litany of swear words.

Nio was shocked when he saw that Evan had hit the targets almost 50% of the time, that was better than anyone else who'd tried his program. Only half of those hits were bulls eyes but still, it was extremely impressive for a first try. Nio was also glad that Nick had given Evan a second try though, Nio could tell that many of his shots missed because he had been caught off-guard.

Evan just stared at the range where the small programmed targets had been moving around at insane speeds. How the _bloody hell_ was someone supposed to hit all those? He had almost frozen when they all popped up and started moving around but he somehow managed to get through the whole thing. He even thought he did fairly well, considering the circumstances. He was given a five minute break before he started in on the second round. This time he was pleasantly surprised to find that he hit nearly 85% of the targets and got a bull's eye 70% of the time.

With a scowl Nio had to admit that the guy was good, really good. Evan had done better than he had for the whole first month he had it set up.

One look at Nio's face was enough to tell Evan that he should probably run away. He had tried his hardest and was beginning to think it wasn't the best idea anymore. I mean, how could a six year old beat that? Just as he thought that, Nio smirked and stepped up to the window, then Evan changed his mind and thought that maybe he had underestimated the kid.

Nio smirked and stepped up, he nodded to Nick who hit the start button. As the ten second countdown started, Nio closed his eyes and took a few calming breaths, at the two second mark his eyes flew open and he raised his gun, getting it level just as the program started.

When he stepped down, Nio grinned, he _loved_ doing that and one look at his scores told him that he wouldn't have to maul the new guy. In fact, it was a new personal best!

Evan's jaw dropped as he watched Nio shooting at the moving targets, this kid was unbelievable and the results confirmed it. 97% hit rate and 88% bulls eye.

Vince turned to Nio, "Damn Nio, that's amazing."

"I know!" Nio yelled, "It's bloody fantastic!"

"I take it this hasn't happened before?" Evan asked tentatively.

"No, well, yes, but no. I mean, my best time was 95 and 84." Then Nio smacked Evan's back. "Woah man, loosen up a bit, I don't have to kill you now!" He said cheerfully as he walked out.

Evan stood there, stunned. "What?" He asked the room in general.

They all laughed. "He wouldn't have actually killed you, just made it rather painful to do anything for a while. Trust me, you don't want to be on the receiving end of his staff, it's painful." Vince said with an exaggerated wince. "I should know, I'm one of the two people he spars with."

"Then how are you still okay?" Evan asked.

"Padding." Was Vince's answer. The truth was that it was a bit of padding and copious amounts of 'help' from Nio. Magic is a wonderful thing.

"He _is_ six, right?" The room just laughed at him, again.

* * *

Nio's seventh birthday had been passed a few months previous when he managed to break his collarbone, that would teach him to remember to _dodge_ Kimiko when _blocking_ Vince. You can't block both and you can't dodge both, he forgot that particular fact of life and tried to block both at the same time. Luckily, no one could _see_ the break, they just saw him get hit. This meant that he could heal it himself and pretend it was just a bruise. But even though he was fine, he still had to suffer through a week of no training _at all_ to 'recover', this included his precious guns. The first two days were fine, he spent all the extra time in meditation and explored his magic some more, but after a small incident a few years ago involving broken windows, flying tatami and no clothing, Sal only allowed him to do this with supervision and Vince and Kimiko could only take so much time off. The third day of his 'torture', as he liked to call it, he hung around the garage with Katie and Drew, but Katie kept fussing over his "poor broken shoulder" and wouldn't let him or Drew do anything fun, so he left. The fourth day he tried to study the whole time but that got old _really_ fast. So, the fifth day found him up on the small, unused, walkway that ran around the top of the gym, watching the day guard practicing. Maybe he could find someone who could challenge him here like Evan did in the firing range. A bit of healthy competition never hurt anyone, okay, maybe it can hurt, but that's not the point. Speaking of Evan, Nio had never actually seen him fight, he didn't use the same part of the gym that Nio did. When he spotted Evan, Nio watched as Nick absolutely trounced him with Kimiko's special mix of martial arts, Nio laughed his head off. Then, when Evan was well and truly beaten, he jumped up, stormed over to the cabinet and grabbed two sets of double swords. With what looked like a growl (Nio was too far away to actually tell), he thrust one set at Nick who seemed a bit apprehensive. Because he was watching from above and no one could really see him, Nio turned a really uncomfortable chair into a bean bag and sat down to enjoy the show; Nick was good with the swords, this was bound to be amusing. And it was, just not in the way Nio was expecting it to be. As he watched, he remembered that he had mastered what he called 'farsight', he could zoom in on anything just by squinting, and because his father had taught him how to read lips he began to follow their developing argument.

"Oh come on Evan, what have I even done to you?" Nick asked.

"Hold on, let's think about this for a moment. You just beat the shit out of me and oh yeah, that remark about my age." Evan said, tapping his chin as if in deep thought.

"How was I supposed to know you were in recovery?"

"You all knew I just got out of prison, of course I'd be in recovery! What did you think prison was? A walk in the park? Anyway, you said I looked **35**!" Evan said, gesticulating with one of his swords.

"It wasn't just me! I didn't even start it. And you don't look it any more." Nick said, trying to defend his apparently rude comment from earlier.

"But really? 35? God, you guys are so oblivious."

"You know, I think you're overreacting a bit. Seriously, you're acting like a girl about this whole thing."

Evan seemed to find that statement extremely funny for all of two seconds but then he scowled. "Okay, that's it. We're doing this, you just dug your grave young man."

"Young man?" Nick asked, "I'm older than you, you can't call me 'young' anything."

"Hey, you're the one who thought I was 35, you're only 30, hence, young man." Evan said with a smirk.

"Okay fine. I give up. You can call me young it you want."

"Nope. Now, if you announce how old I am, I won't do this again for a week." Evan said.

Nick dramatically held one hand over his heart, "I would like the record to show that I hereby recognise Evan White as being a measly 26 years of age."

"Thank you." Evan said with an innocent smile, "Now, let's begin."

As they prepared, all Nio could think was _Evan's only 26?_ Then, the more he thought about it, Evan did seem to be getting younger. _Huh, who would've known? _Then he watched as Evan proceeded to show Nio that he found a new double swords partner. _Oooo, this is gunna be fun!_

Over the last two days of his forced vacation, Nio decided that Evan would be joining him, Vince and Sensei for the staff and double sword practice/training. He nearly rubbed his hands together in glee.

The first day after Nio was 'cleared for duty', Evan noticed him looking at him strangely. At first, he thought it was his imagination, but he soon realised that he was being eyed the way a dog would eye a cat he wanted to chase; not catch, just chase. And he _would_ know. He just thought _Oh, that's not good. _The next morning, he found out why.

"Evan!" Vince called after they all finished morning meditation, it was optional but many people found that after getting up insanely early it helped to prepare for the day, "Nio wants you to join us for his training this morning."

Evan's stomach dropped. "Okay. What weapons does he want me to bring?"

Vince smirked, "Staff and double swords."

_Ah shit! He found out._ Evan's face clearly displayed his thoughts. "Right." He gulped. "I'll be there." _Assuming I don't kill myself first._ Everyone knew that those were Nio's best weapons. _Nah, if I offed myself, he'd probably find a way to bring me back to he could have a go too._ Those were Evan's morbid thoughts as he trudged over to Nio's area, he got sympathetic pats on the back and words of encouragement from the people he passed.

Nio grinned, "Judging by your face, I'd hazard a guess that you know why you're here." Evan just nodded. "Great! Lets get warmed up! Swords first."

With a sigh, Evan started his routine. However, as terrified as he was, he couldn't help but think that at least this would be challenging; he hadn't been able to find anyone who could fight any where near as well as he could, with either of these weapons.

Then, Nio and Evan fought. Their four swords whipped and smashed and hit and blocked for almost 20 minutes and by the time Nio finally managed to win, they were down to one sword each and ready to collapse. Not to mention the fact that their fight had moved around so much that they finished in the middle of the gym, with every single person watching and cheering them on.

"Holy fuck!" Evan said before he fell onto the mat.

"No shit." Nio muttered as he joined Evan on the floor.

From that day on, Evan joined Vince, Sensei and Nio for training, but he ran like a bat out of hell as soon as they started hand to hand. He knew he couldn't fight with his hands and feet, he didn't need Nio to pummel him to death to figure that out. The others were relieved that Evan was terrible at this because they already had one person who was great at anything he tried, and no one wanted another Nio running around, especially not a fully grown one with a slightly twisted sense of humor.

* * *

When Nio was eight, he had officially 'graduated' primary school (meaning they had actually registered him as having completed it and taken the tests) but was also extremely proficient in politics, the theory of economics, statistics, legal and illegal business tactics, body language reading, all kinds of modern technology, chemistry (he really liked this for some reason), ancient history and mathematic proofs (one of his many hobbies was to download an 'unsolvable' equation from the internet, solve it, prove it and then file it away to see how long it would take the professionals to work it out).

It only took a while before Evan was the only person who could sometimes beat Nio at the staff and regularly beat him with the double swords, no one knew why but the two of them just seemed to 'click' when fighting, it was as if both of them could sense what the other was doing a split second after they started. The others were both jealous and relieved at this new situation. On the one hand, Evan got to fight with Nio on a regular basis, and on the other hand, Evan had to fight with Nio on a regular basis. As Nio steadily improved, Evan found himself forming a solid relationship with the floor. Soon, Nio commandeered Evan and convinced Vince that he needed a second bodyguard. This 'convincing' came in the form of disappearances, Nio would go missing for entire afternoons until Vince (and Sal) finally caved. They later found out that Nio had been sneaking off to hang out with Evan and that the two of them were responsible for many of the rather humiliating accidents that occurred around the mansion. It was as if Evan was just a big kid. When confronted, they had almost identical expressions of complete innocence which were too real to be genuine. And so began a relationship that would end up changing the world, not that they would know it any time soon.

By Nio's ninth birthday, Evan and Nio were thick as thieves, Nio had even taught him how to skateboard! Nio and Evan spent a lot of time hanging around the garage with Katie and Drew, Evan seemed to find their last name extremely funny. Nio and Drew would run off and do who knows what (with Vince tagging along) and Evan and Katie would fiddle around with motorcycles (Katie had been pleasantly surprised to find that Evan could dissemble and reassemble a motorcycle in under two hours).

Evan taught Nio the best way to share the shit out of the guards, Nio taught Evan to climb up a cliff face, Evan taught Nio the beauty of the crossbow, Nio taught Evan how to sneak up on Vince, needless to say, they had a great time. Vince was often left feeling like he was a dad taking care of two teenagers. The two things Nio didn't share with Evan were his adoption and his magic. He later wished he had told him the latter a whole lot sooner, it would have made things much easier.

Nio watched Evan walk down the drive, Sal had officially offered him a room in the mansion and he had accepted! Nio was really happy that they would be able to spend more time together, there was something familiar about Evan, Nio couldn't put him finger on it, but it was there. He shook his head, it didn't really matter, Evan had become one of his best friends, more like a brother really. Vince was his second dad, Drew was his best friend, Maria was his mother and Evan was his big (much bigger) brother, he loved it.

The brown-haired, gray-eyed man walked away from the mansion he worked at, he was on his way to pack his few belongings from the house he lived in (courtesy of the Diadones of course), he had officially been promoted to the house. It wasn't an actual promotion, he didn't get a raise or a change of duties, no, this was a trust promotion. He grinned, Nio had taken a liking to him and he had a great time with the kid, hanging out and teaching a genius (while pretending to protect him) wasn't exactly the worst of jobs. They were almost like brothers. The age difference really didn't matter either, especially seeing as Sirius Black had never grown up in the first place.

* * *

Author's note: Muahahahahaha! I love cliff hangers. I don't usually give them but it was too good to pass up. Anyway, the more reviews the faster I write!


	5. Padfoot

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Five – Padfoot**

* * *

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Padfoot would be alive, well and happy!

Author's note: I'm evil for making you wait... Enjoy!

* * *

Padfoot lay in his cell in Azakaban with his paws over his face trying to hold on to the shreds of his humanity in the desolate prison where he had spent the last four years of his life. Even in his animagus form he could feel his sanity slipping away bit by bit, he whined a pitiful doggy whine and wished, once again, that he hadn't tried to go after Peter. He never should have left Harry, Harry was his responsibility, James had made him promise to take care of him and now Sirius was stuck in a living hell and Harry was Merlin only knows where. The only saving grace was that Dumbledore had promised to take care of him. In the last few months, Sirius had started to feel his soul slip away, he _knew_ that his sanity was on the brink of total destruction and he couldn't help but wonder how much longer he was going to last. He had to get out, there was no other way to keep himself together. Sirius Black had often prided himself on knowing exactly who he was; in here, he was losing that. He had to get out. Sirius spent the next three months planning; he memorised the guards' schedules, evaluated their physical strength and located each and every one of those blasted dementors. He also did his best to figure out which season it was so he could avoid the worst of the cold. Finally, on August 12th 1985, Padfoot leaped through the bars of his cell and bowled over the guard who was continually beating him and the other prisoners. He quickly, and rather violently, relieved him of his wand and used his first magic in over four years to transfigure the man's face to look very similar to his own, then he quickly stole the guard's clothing and replaced it with his own, he used the man's key to open his ex-cell and roughly shoved the man inside. He hastily wiped his memory, but Sirius had never been good at oblivating so he didn't do a very good job but he didn't care, not that it really mattered anyway. He locked the man in, transformed to Padfoot, raced through the prison and swam to shore.

Padfoot clambered onto the rocky beach and shook as hard as he could to try and find some modicum of dryness but failed miserably. He decided that the best thing to do would be to stay as a dog at least until he was dry; no one would question a wet dog, a grown man on the other hand, _that_ they would question. _Hey_, He thought, _At least I'm not being searched for...yet._ Padfoot grinned a doggy grin, that was one of the more ingenious parts of his plan, if he did say so himself. That guard could shout his lungs out about his innocence, but he would just be doing the same thing everyone else in that place was doing, so no one would listen. The other guards would probably notice that one of their comrades was missing but from what Sirius could gather, the short man wasn't liked that much on the island and hated his job, the guards would probably just think he quit without telling them and wish him good riddance. It was perfect! By the time Padfoot reached civilisation, he was dry, but covered in salt and other dried ocean debris so he looked for somewhere to get rid of it. He found a fountain and frolicked around in it until he was as clean as he was going to get without taking a proper shower.

_Now, what else do I have to do?_ Sirius asked himself as he shook of after his bath. He had already decided that going after Harry would be a bad idea, and probably impossible. Dumbledore had made sure that he was safe, which meant that no one, not even Sirius, would be able to find him. So, he was going to make a life for himself and wait and watch for any news concerning Harry or Peter. Waiting wasn't his best ability but he was just going to have to suck it up and deal.

_Lets see, ah! I need to make myself presentable...Damn, I'm still wet. And my hair! Oh sweet Merlin my hair! _Sirius had always been rather particular about his hair and now he knew there was no way it wasn't messed up. A dementor-patrolled prison wasn't exactly an environment conducive to proper hair care. Just then, he conveniently found an old public restroom, it was rather run-down and locked up but he had a wand, padlocks meant nothing to him. He changed back into a human, after making sure no one was watching, and let himself in. The mirror in the men's room was completely shattered and unusable so he had to go to the women's one, which oddly enough, didn't bother him in the slightest. Then he noticed just exactly how awful he looked.

"Fuck, I look like shit!" Sirius nearly yelled, he pulled out the stolen wand, cut his hair and shaved his entire beard off – he _hated_ facial hair – and cleaned the remaining grime off his clothing. All the while he was cursing like a sailor at the wand, it refused to cooperate! By the time he was finished he no longer looked like a skeleton but rather like a man who'd been very sick for a long time, he also looked about 40, something that nearly made him cry, he was Sirius Black, handsome Marauder...not Prisoner Black, decrepit killer. The fact that he wanted to snap the belligerent wand in two really didn't help his mood. The only thing that stopped him from breaking it was the knowledge that it was the only wand he had. Swearing profusely again, he cast as complicated a glamour on his face as the stupid wand would let him, and headed out to find work. He would have preferred a job in the wizarding world, so he wouldn't have to worry about changing pounds into galleons to buy a wand, but realised that even if people weren't hunting for him, he could still be recognised; there were plenty of people who could see through glamours and/or know there was one there. Sirius thought of ditching a wand and just going completely Muggle but quickly discarded that idea, he liked magic too much to not have a wand. He also made one of the hardest decisions of his life, he dyed his hair, the Muggle way. So, that is how Evan White, with light brown, shoulder-length hair, became the dishwasher at a small Italian Bistro in downtown London. Little did he know that the cafe was owned by the Diadone mafia family as one of it's smaller, legitimate, businesses. It was a few steps down from pureblood Black heir but it was monotonous enough to let his mind and body heal.

Two weeks into his new job, Sirius, now known as Evan, finally had enough money to buy a clean shirt and rent a tiny room with a single bed. It was a good thing he could get the leftovers from the bistro because otherwise he would have been very hungry a lot of the time and not able to save a penny. Three weeks in, he had eaten enough and bought enough new (well, second-hand, but that wasn't the point) clothing to look like a normal human being without the glamour. After a week of washing dishes, the bus boy mysteriously vanished and he was promoted to clearing tables, which Sirius enjoyed immensely. Sirius liked meeting the people – even if it was only to ask if he could take their plate – because he had spent so long alone, it was a good way to ease himself back into a social setting, he didn't have to have long conversations but he learned how to interact with people again. By the end of the month, Sirius had earned enough to buy a wand and had a few presentable outfits, but he still hadn't figured out how to get a wizarding job. He finally decided that he would continue working at the bistro to save money and carefully exchange pounds for galleons at Gringotts. It was a good thing that the goblins only really cared about money because they had the uncanny ability to recognise anyone. So, he changed his money and scuttled down Knockturn Alley; he remembered Moody mentioning something about a custom wand shop but that only certain people would be able to find it, so he wandered around until he saw a tiny little sign pop up out of nowhere that simply read 'Wands'. With a shrug he walked in. The little bell above the door rang and a really old lady poked her head out of the back room.

"Looky here, I have a customer." She said in a raspy voice, "It's been almost a month since I've had one of those."

"Um, hi." Sirius said hesitantly. "I heard that you make wands?" It was more a question than a statement.

"Why yes dear, I do. However, I don't sell them to just anyone. What's your name sonny?" By now the old lady had shuffled out of the back and was standing less than a meter away from Sirius. "And don't bother lying, I will know if you do. Don't worry though, what happens in here, stays in here I don't tell on anyone who comes in to my shop."

"Oh." Sirius said. "Um, I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

The old lady grinned, "See, the thing is, I already know who you are, at least I think I do, but I want to know if my guess is correct. If it is, then I will be expecting some kind of story because it is a rare day when you meet someone who has done what you have."

Sirius was pretty sure that the lady wasn't lying when she said she knew who he was, comments like that were a little too specific to be a guess. "Well, I'm Sirius Black, and I need a wand."

"Sweet Merlin, I was right!" The lady said, clapping her hands, then she seemed to drop a glamour and revealed herself to actually be a middle-aged man.

"Shit," Sirius said. "You're a man!"

"Oh, it has eyes." The guy deadpanned. "Yes, I do. I use that old lady thing as a disguise and to scare off people I don't like. For some reason people are scared of hags...go figure. Anyway, come on back, we have a wand to make and stories to tell!"

"Wait." Sirius said. "I need an oath that you're not going to turn me in or tell anyone about me and my existence outside of Azkaban."

"Fine." The man pulled out his wand. "I, Daniel Sanderson, swear on my life and magic that I will keep everything said and done in this shop while Sirius Black is here, to myself." There was a flash of magic as Daniel's oath settled. "Happy?" He asked.

"Yes, very." Sirius replied with a smile. "Shall we?"

While Daniel worked on what he promised would be an extremely powerful and well-suited wand for Sirius, Sirius told him all about his escape. All Daniel could say was "wow", over and over again. He felt privileged to be the first person to hear about the only breakout from Azkaban, the fact that the ministry didn't even know Sirius was gone, made Daniel laugh so hard he almost cried. Sirius, in turn, learned that Daniel had been suspected of being a Death Eater until Voldemort personally took care of his entire family; the world thought he was dead and he was perfectly happy with them thinking that. By the time the wand was finished, both men were happy to have met the other but agreed that staying in touch would probably be a bad idea.

Sirius went back to working in the cafe and saving money. Life was infinitely easier now that he had a cooperative wand, he could enlarge his room, make his bed comfy, fix the broken shit that was laying around his room, mend his clothing, clean the room without wasting water and soap, and many other things he had missed dearly. The nicest thing by far was the ability to make his food go further and not have to pay for electricity or water. This meant that the majority of his paycheck got deposited straight into his savings, which were slowing growing. At this rate, he would be able to afford a flat of his own soon!

Within a month, Sirius found himself promoted to being a waiter because apparently his attitude and personality had greatly improved and people liked him. Then, before he knew it, he was filling in at the till and was soon promoted to cashier/host. All this happened so fast that Sirius didn't really know what hit him, he blamed the Black charm. Two weeks into his new post as cashier, Sirius noticed that money was going missing; he had always been good with money, and it was obvious that things just weren't adding up. He also noticed that his manager was acting odd; she would come in really early, stay extremely late, and Sirius' heightened sense of smell told him that she was constantly sweaty and nervous. Then, one night as he was counting the till – again, it was coming up short – the lady pulled a gun on him.

"Woah!" Sirius said, slowly putting his hands in the air. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sorry Evan, but you're too smart to stay, the other's didn't notice the money so they were just let go but you, you've noticed it's missing and you've been looking at me funny, like you know what I'm doing." She said as she pointed the gun steadily at his chest. "I'm afraid you're going to have to go, and I can't let you leave, you might run off and tell him. I can't have word getting back to Sal, he would kill me, I guess stealing the money was a bit much, my boss won't like that very much, but there was just too much to let it go to waste. Well, I guess I'll just have to kill you, my boss wants Diadone and I can't give him to him yet. I'm not done and you'll ruin our plans."

Sirius looked at his manager completely confused; who the hell was Sal? And stealing money, information..._what?_ She just wasn't making any sense. And Diadone, hadn't he heard that name somewhere before? _Ah SHIT!_ Sirius yelled in his head as he put the pieces together. _I'm working for the motherfucking __**mafia**__ and now I'm being held at gunpoint by a stupid Muggle going up against them! Merlin, I'm so fucked._ Then he remembered that a) he was a wizard and b) he had a wand. He carefully slid his wand from it's holster on his arm and stunned the crazy woman before she could shoot him. He picked the gun up and stuck it in the till so no one would see it; a month ago he wouldn't have even known what a gun _was,_ but now he knew exactly what they were capable of and he really didn't want to be on the receiving end of one. He had seen shootings and their aftermath, both dramatized and not, on the TV thingy and was amazed with what the Muggles came up to substitute the killing and blasting curses. But back to the situation at hand, Sirius knew that a stunned Muggle would raise questions (things he avoided at all costs), especially if there was no obvious reason for their unconsciousness, so he dragged the woman back to the kitchen and hit her over the head with a cast iron frying pan. It made a rather satisfying thud when it connected with her skull, then he grabbed the gun and stuck it in one of the drawers so he wouldn't have to explain why he brought the gun out front when he 'hit' her in the kitchen. The he rummaged around for rope or something to tie her up with (incarcerous would be too suspicious), and found one of the Muggles' greatest inventions; duct tape. When he was sure the crazy lady wasn't going anywhere, he searched the cafe for a number to call or something, if this place really _was_ run by the mafia then there must be a way to contact them. Finally he gave up and did it the magic way.

"Accio Diadone contact information." To his great surprise, a small sticky note (another great Muggle invention) flew out of the till and into his hand, it simply read 'Diadone help'. Sirius picked up the phone and dialed the number. _Muggles really are quite resourceful; duck tape, sticky notes, guns and telephones (not fellytones), what will they come up with next?_ He thought as the phone rang.

"Emergency hot line, how can I help you?" An Indian accented feminine voice asked.

_Emergency hot line?_ Sirius asked himself, _I thought the would connect me to a Diadone help line._

"Hi, um, yeah." Sirius said, "I thought this was a number for a Diadone someone, maybe I got the wrong number..." Sirius made to hang up the phone but the woman lost the accent and her voice hardened.

"Wait. Don't hang up, just, just stay on the line. I gotta go get someone." The lady said, all pretenses of being a hot line smashed to bits.

"Oh, okay." Sirius said, nudging the unconscious body of his manager with his foot just to make sure his stunner worked properly. After all, he hadn't stunned anyone for over four years. But he needn't have worried, her duct taped figure was still dead to the world.

"Hey, this is Nick, who are you?" An anxious male voice asked.

"Um, I'm Evan White, I work at the Wayward Son Bistro." Sirius said, trying to sound like an unsure employee.

"I see, and how exactly did you get this number?"

"I found it on a sticky note in the till. I needed to call someone from the Diadones so I looked around till I found a number I thought would work." _Oh yeah, and then I got fed up and summoned it... _

"Okay, and why did you need to get in touch with the Diadones?"

"Well, my manager pulled a gun on me and started rambling on about money, a guy called Sal, her boss, the Diadones, not telling anyone and needing me dead. I kinda hit her with a pan. I didn't want to call the police because I have a general idea of who the Diadones are and didn't think you'd want the police involved." Sirius continued that chain of thought in his head; _And I wanted to keep my head firmly attached to my shoulders, pissing off the mafia would not have been a good way to extend my life expectancy, it's short enough as it is._

"You're at the Wayward Son you say?" The guy named Nick asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, what did you do with the lady after you hit her with the pan? Good thinking by the way." Nick said.

"Oh, I wrapped her up with a shit ton of duct tape." Sirius said, his grin making it's way across the phone line.

Nick laughed, "Oh that's great! I would have loved to see that, hit with a pan and duct taped! Anyway, just sit tight, we'll be over there as fast as we can."

"Okay, but please hurry, I think she's waking up." That, of course, was a complete lie, the lady wouldn't be waking up until someone reversed the stunner. Anyway, even if she did wake up, she didn't have her gun and he was a wizard with a wand; when you thought about it, it really wasn't a fair fight to begin with.

15 minutes later, a black sedan with tinted windows parked out front and a tall man stepped out. He was wearing a suit that just screamed 'I'm worth thousands of pounds', dark sunglasses and a really cool hat. To a normal person he would have been intimidating but Sirius was pretty tall and after a few months of working out and eating good food he could be pretty scary himself. The man was followed by two men in black suites and sunglasses as well as another one dressed like a civilian. Right before they walked in, Sirius remembered to revive his manager who, needless to say, wasn't too pleased with her current situation. He quickly hid his wand and stepped around the corner so the men could see him.

The tall man approached Sirius and offered his hand, "Salvator Diadone, you must be Evan."

Sirius shook the man's hand, "Ah, yeah. Evan White, nice to meet you." Sirius said, impressed by Salvator's grip, by the look (and feel) of things, this was the Mafia Lord himself.

"The same to you." Salvator said with a curt nod. "I wish it were under better circumstances. Now, to business, please tell me exactly what happened."

And Sirius did, all the way from the missing money to the well-placed frying pan (he conveniently forgot to mention that she was already knocked out when he hit her) and ending with the duct tape and phone call. Salvator seemed pleased with what Sirius had done but didn't actually say anything. Instead, he walked over to where the lady was taped up and propped against the oven door.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself?" Salvator asked coldly.

"Nothing, except that Christopher is twice the man you'll ever be." She said and spit at him, she missed, but got her point across loud and clear.

Salvator snarled both at being spit at and having to hear the name of one of the mafia wannabes. "Oh really? That's all? It's too bad you weren't more forthcoming. Leo, Dan, take her away, make sure she gets the VIP treatment." The tone of his voice clearly ordered the opposite. "We wouldn't want our most esteemed thieving spy to be uncomfortable when we have out little chat, now would we?" Sirius shivered at his tone, even the Death Eaters didn't talk like that...

"Yeah boss."

"Right away, sir." The two men said as the hoisted the now sheet-white woman off the floor and dragged her to a second car.

The Salvator turned to Sirius, "Evan, Mr. White, in my opinion, which is the only one that really matters right now, you have two choices; you can work for me, or you can push some daisies. I'm sure you understand that I can't just let you go wandering around after this."

Now Sirius wasn't completely up to date on Muggle colloquialisms but he didn't think 'pushing daisies' referred to gardening. "I think I'll work for you sir, daisies aren't really my thing."

"Good choice of words." Salvator said with a smirk, "I think I like you. I expect to see you in my office at eight am sharp tomorrow, we need to decided where to put you. Nick will give you the details and pick you up in the morning." With that, the Mafia Lord swept out of the cafe and drove away.

Nick walked over to where Evan was leaning against the counter, "You're very relaxed for someone who nearly got shot." He said, looking at Evan critically, there was something about this guy that was a bit off. A normal cashier should be shaking in his boots and/or passing out, especially after Sal's little display; this guys was either really thick, or he had experience with this sort of thing.

Sirius smiled. "Well, I've had worse pointed at me and still gotten away just fine. It'll take more than a hand gun and a big guy to ruffle my feathers."

"Really?" Nick asked, "So you have experience with these types of situations?"

Sirius frowned, yes, he had _similar_ experiences, but they involved a wand and masked men. "Kinda, I'm good at avoiding projectiles and I can give as good as I get." _Ha! Take that! I didn't lie!_ Sirius thought smugly.

Nick matched Sirius' frown, there was something Evan wasn't telling him. "So you've shot people before?"

"Um." Sirius tried hard not to fidget. "I've never actually shot _a gun_, I'm just really good at avoiding them."_ Yeah, cause they don't exist in the Wizarding World._ He added in his head. "But I don't need a gun to defend myself, I can fight with my hands." _And my wand..._

"Well, you seem like a guy who can keep his head in a fight. If you come with me, we can see if you're any good with a gun. If everything checks out you might just be our new team member! Charles, um, retired..." Nick said, making Sirius think there was more to the story than simple retirement. "Anyway, I don't know if you noticed but Sal really likes you, I'm not sure why. He doesn't like very many people. I can count on my fingers the people he actually likes. Me, Leonardo, Vincent, Daniel, Samantha, Maria, and of course Antonio. But I don't think anyone can _not_ like Nio. And now, I think you might just be in that list. But then again, Sal does his own thing, great judge of character though, so you must be okay."

Sirius plastered his trademark grin across his face, "What can I say? I'm irresistible!" With a laugh, Nick told him to shut it, and close up the shop.

After an hour at the firing range it was decided that Evan was a perfect shot, and when they say perfect, they meant that _every single_ bullet hit the still target dead centre, and every moving target had at least one bullet right in the bulls' eye. The only time his shots were less than perfect was when they were using the multiple moving targets, but even then, at least one bullet hit each of them. By the time Nick motioned for Evan to take the ear muffs off, the entire off-duty guard force was cheering and it seemed that Evan had fallen in love. With the gun.

"Evan, that's just...wow! You might be as good as Nio, I didn't even know that was possible! Mind you, Nio's like, _six_ so we really don't know what happened there... But still, damn! You're good!" Nick said whacking him on the back. "Are you sure you've never shot a gun before?" But Evan wasn't paying attention, he was caressing the weapon.

"I'm in love!" Sirius said softly, "If I had known how amazing these things were, I would have done this ages ago. Oh, you're a beauty, my little deadly beauty!"

"Um, Evan?" Nick said, tapping him on the shoulder. "You're stroking your gun..."

Sirius grinned, "It's mine? I get to keep it?" He said ecstatically, much to the amusement of the others in the room. If there was any doubt that he had never shot a gun before now, it was wiped away. Evan's reaction was just a bit too strange to be faked.

Nick laughed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can keep it. You just have to meet with Sal, pass the test and then you're part of the family!"

Sirius nearly dropped the gun, "Wait, what test?"

"Oh, it's just a lie detector, we have to make sure you're not working for someone else or going to kill us in our sleep or something."

_Lie detector?_ Sirius asked himself, _The Muggles can detect lies? I'll never pass that, hell, I'm not even using my real name!_ Then something occurred to him, _Maybe it only works on Muggles, maybe I can trick it...Only one way to find out._ "So, uh, how exactly does that work?"

"It's the same as a polygraph, we just ask you questions while we measure your blood pressure, pulse, breath rate and pupil dilation." Nick said, wondering why Evan didn't know what a lie detector test was or how it worked.

Sirius frowned, "Seriously? How does that tell you if I'm lying?"

Nick frowned, there was something off with Nick, this was common knowledge, at least to people who dealt with any sort of violence in today's world. But, he decided to indulge him a bit, "Well, your body reacts differently when you're telling the truth or telling a lie, it's a natural response that can't really be faked."

"Oh, I see." Sirius said, thinking hard about the test. The worst that could happen was that he failed, they tried to shoot him, he stunned them all and ran away to a different country. The best was that he could work for the mafia and play with guns, his new favourite toys. He decided that it was worth it, it would be interesting to see if the Muggles' graph thingy worked. "Okay, well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow!"

The next day, Sirius packed up his stuff and shrunk and hid anything wizardry. If, by some miracle, he managed to pass the lie test, which he had no idea if he could do or not, they'd move him into a house near the Diadone manor. The last thing he needed was them stumbling on the pile of books he'd bought, or the potions he'd managed to acquire over the months. At half past seven, Nick picked him up and they drove to the manor, as they walked past a courtyard, Sirius saw what looked like a young girl sparring with a short Asian woman; he guessed it was a girl based on the long limbs and graceful movements, but it was the ponytail whipping around with each move that really gave her away. If the pair had turned so Sirius could see the kid's face, he would have known that it was a young. However, he was too busy worrying about his interview and test to take a closer look.

Salvator Diadone cut an impressive figure sitting behind his large desk and the intimidation factor which had been lost on Sirius the day before, hit him full-force this morning.

Salvator stood up and reached across his impressive desk to shake Sirius' hand. "Mr. White, so glad you could make it."

"Mr. Diadone, it's nice to be properly introduced." Sirius said, as they took their seats. Sirius was acutely aware of the two visible bodyguards and the three hidden ones, it was a bit unnerving to know there were so many of them.

"Now," Salvator said as he shuffled some papers around on his desk, "I have here a report form the firing range yesterday, it seems pretty obvious that you are quite the shot."

"Um, yes sir. I didn't actually know that until yesterday though." Sirius said a grin, "If I had, I would have found a job that let me shoot a gun sooner."

Salvator smiled, a rather unnerving one that made Sirius question his sanity at agreeing to this meeting. "So I heard. I don't know what it is, but I like you so I'm going to give the chance to work for me. If you agree, I will have you trained up properly and have you join Leo and Nick's force, we do need to fill Charles' spot and we never did replace Vince when he switched... How does that sound?"

"Sounds good. I think I will like working with them, they seem like really great guys." Sirius said with a smile of his own, it was slightly forced because he was trying to figure out what happened to 'Charles' and 'Vince'.

"So they are. Now, if you will just come over here," He gestured to a side room, that looked, to Sirius, rather ominous. "We will do a short polygraph, I'm sure you understand."

Sirius started to get really nervous, following relative strangers into a small room wasn't usually a good idea, the fact that they were part of the mafia wasn't really helping. He touched his wand and surreptitiously cast a few calming spells on himself but he didn't know if it was enough to fool the Muggle machine. _Well, nothing I can do now._ He thought as they put funny things on his fingers, the inside of his elbows, his throat and his chest.

An official-looking lady walked in and sat next to Salvator while another guy started pressing buttons on what Sirius now knew to be a computer.

"Okay." Salvator said. "Introductions first and then we will begin. This is Ms. Samantha Charleston, here to oversee the relative legality of this process, she's also extremely adept at reading body language. She and I will be asking the questions. And this is Dr. Jones, he's the technician who will be administrating the test."

Sirius gave as much of a wave as he could while hooked up to the computer, "Hi guys." The only response he go were nods. _Lovely_, _interrogation style. Hey, it's kinda like a trial! Yeah, the trial I never got._

"First, a few baseline questions." Samantha said. "Please state your name."

_Shit! They just _had_ to start with that one._ "Evan White." He said as steadily as possible.

The technician took one look at the computer and shook his head at Sam and Sal, "Lie." He said.

_Ah, fuck. How the hell do the Muggles do it? This is ridiculous._

Sal frowned. "Really? Well, we'll get back to that particular problem in a minute. I can think of many reasons to hide your name, only a few of which I like. But for now, we still need to establish a baseline. You're not female so this shouldn't bother you, how old are you?"

Sirius laughed but was interrupted by Sam, "Hey, stop laughing, it messes with the results. Now take a deep breath, good. Now, how old are you?"

"Twenty five." Sirius said, he knew they wouldn't believe him, after all, he was still recovering from Azkaban and looked more like thirty five.

Everyone in the room looked at Jones who just shrugged and said, "Truth." Then they all looked at Sirius in disbelief.

"Hey, don't look at me. It's not my fault I look like shit, I've had a rough life and was very sick a few months back. I'm still recovering." _Ha! No lie there._

Jones looked at the computer, "Well, it's hard to tell with longer answers but I'd have to say true for that statement."

"Okay, well, let's just continue." Sal said and nodded at Sam. "A few more controls, if you don't mind."

"What's your birthday?" Sam asked.

"The day I was born." Sirius said cockily, then he remembered that they probably wouldn't appreciate humor right now. "Sorry, force of habit. My birthday. September 12th 1959."

Jones rolled his eyes. "Again, complicated because of the sentences, but true."

"Sorry guys, I'll hold it back for now."

Sam grinned at him, she was liking him more and more by the minute. "Okay, I'll try to phrase the questions a bit better. What colour is your hair?"

Sirius, having forgotten that he dyed it answered, "Black."

"Um, true." Jones said, looking extremely confused.

Sal glared at the man in front of him, he may like him for some strange reason but he was infuriating. "Is that so? Have you looked in the mirror recently?"

"Oh, sorry." Sirius said sheepishly. "I dyed it. But I promise, it is actually black, really black." _Quite_ _ironic actually._ He added to himself.

Jones huffed, "True, but please stop with the sentences, they make my life difficult."

"Right, sorry." Sirius said, mentally telling his mouth to shut up and cooperate.

Sam decided to go extremely simple so they could finally have a few good controls. "What did you have for breakfast?"

"Coffee."

"True."

"Are you a man?" Sam asked. _Simple, keep it simple._ She had to keep telling herself.

Sirius really wanted to say, 'Me? A man? Dude, no one who knows me would call me a man, 'guy' or 'boy' maybe, but 'man' implies I have some sort of maturity!' But he held his tongue and said "Yes."

"True."

_I wouldn't want to be Jones right now._ Sirius thought_, He has to sit, look at a screen and say 'true' and 'lie' or 'false'. That's boring._ However, Jones let out a frustrated huff.

"Evan, you have got to calm your thoughts. What ever you're thinking about is confusing the computer and therefore confusing me." Jones said. Sam smiled and Sal frowned.

"Hey, I can't help that my brain goes faster than a bat out of hell." Sirius said with another grin, the kind that melts hearts.

Sal crossed his arms and said, "Jones, you're the best polygraph reader in the country, can you work with the sentences?"

Jones looked rather affronted. "Of course I can, but the chance of accuracy would probably go down by about 5%. I'm still confident, it wouldn't be held up in court, but we're not there so it doesn't matter."

"Okay, thank you. Evan, or whatever your name is, try and stick to single words or phrases but just stop rambling in your head." Sal said, trying to growl. He ended stopping because he realised that what he really wanted to do was laugh. This guy reminded him of his son, which might be why he liked him so much.

"Yes sir." Sirius said with as straight a face as possible. He was surprised that the detector worked in the first place, but greatly amused that he was as good at confusing it, as he was at confusing the people around him.

"One last control and then on to the real questions." Sam said. "What did you use to tie up your manager yesterday?"

"Duct tape." Sirius paused for a second before finished his sentence, he would have just thought it but they had told him not to do that. "Best damn invention ever."

Jones laughed. "True and true."

Sam smiled. "I agree. Now, Sal, the floor is yours."

"Finally." Sal said. "Back to the original question. What is you name?"

"I can't really tell you." Sirius said.

Jones wanted to bang his head against the wall, this was by far the most frustrating polygraph he had ever administrated, and he had done hundreds, maybe thousands. "I'd have to say he thinks it's true."

Sal wanted to laugh and hit something. "Why can't you tell us your name?"

Sirius looked around at the people in the room, "Um, well. I'm kinda supposed to be in prison." He figured that because he was talking to the mafia, it wouldn't be suicide to say that.

"True."

Sal sat forward in his seat and looked even more interested than he had before. "Really? What did you do?"

"Nothing. That's why I'm running."

"True."

_This just keeps getting more interesting._ Thought Sam, Sal and Jones.

"So, you're innocent of whatever you were accused of?" Sal asked, just to make sure they had it straight.

"Yes." Sirius said sadly.

"True."

Sam decided to take over here, but had forgotten they were trying to keep the questions and answers simple. "What were you accused of?"

Sirius also forgot they were trying to keep it simple, he was just happy that he was finally getting to tell the truth to more than just a wand-maker, even if it was to a room of Muggles and hooked up to a computer. "Betraying my best friend and his wife to their deaths, orphaning my godson, and mass murder." There was no laughter in his face and his eyes looked dead and haunted; a fact that none of the room's occupants missed.

Jones sighed. "Again with the sentences. But I'd have to say true."

"Okay," Sal said, looking Sirius right in the eye. "You do realise this is the _mafia,_ right?"

"Yeah..." Sirius said, not really sure where this was going.

"Well, our general opinion is that the law can go screw itself, unless it works to our advantage. The police would love to get their hands on many of us so we really don't care if you're on the run, especially if you will work for us. But I'm still going to need your name."

Sirius sighed. _What harm can it do? It's not like they've even heard of me._ "Sirius Black."

"True."

Sam had to resist gasping out loud, in her head she was screaming at the top of her lungs. How was _Sirius Black_, betrayer of the Potters, long-time resident of the high security wing of Azkaban, Voldemort's right hand man, taking a polygraph in a mafia lord's office, in the same house as _Harry_ _Potter?_ Why was he claiming to be innocent? And why the hell was the computer saying he was telling the truth? Sam knew that it worked on wizards just as it did on Muggles, so how was he tricking it? Some secret agents and military people had been trained to properly lie when taking the test, but there was _no way_ Sirius Black could do such a thing. And wasn't he still in prison? She would have heard from Becca if there had been an escape, especially if it was Sirius Black because he would be coming after Potter. But he didn't even know Potter was here, did he? Things just didn't add up.

"Sir." She asked. "Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

"No, go right ahead."

"Have you ever killed anyone?" Sam asked. She knew that an an auror in the First War he would have but wanted to hear his answer.

"Yes."

"Truth."

Then she looked at him critically, "Have you ever blown up a street?"

Sirius looked at Samantha sharply, that question was way too specific, it was too close to home. She had to know who he was. _Well, no time like the present to try and convince someone in the Wizarding World of my innocence._ "No."

"Truth."

Sam frowned. This just didn't make sense, had the ministry caught the wrong guy? Was that even possible? "You said you were supposed to be in prison, were you ever actually sent there?"

Again, this was too close to his true story for Sirius' comfort, but he was neck deep in this now, in for knut, in for a sickle. "Yes."

"Truth."

"And you served out you term?" Sam pressed.

"No."

Jones' eyebrows rose as he said, "Truth."

"No?" Sal asked, jumping in. "Then how are you here?"

"I, um," Sirius looked up and his two questioners, "I kinda broke out."

"Truth." Jones said, impressed.

_Break out of Azkaban? That's impossible!_ Sam thought. _Well, apparently not, seeing as he is sitting right here. Damn, this is confusing._

"You escaped from prison?" Sal asked sharply. "Why haven't you been on the news?"

Sirius gave a small smile, "Well, it was a while ago and the prison isn't exactly well-known."

"Truth, as far as I can tell." Jones said. "But you really need to stop with all the sentences and 'why' questions."

"Right, yeah, whatever." Sal said distractedly. "Now, just so we're clear, you broke out of prison, where you were put even though you were innocent?"

"Yes." Sirius said confidently, much to the surprise, confusion and annoyance of Sam.

"Truth."

"Well, that's fine with me." Sal said decisively. "I say we move on to the relevant questions." He nodded to Sam.

Sam desperately tried to clear her head, Sirius Black was innocent! "Um, yes, let's." She said, coming back to the present. "Who do you work for?"

"I worked for whoever owns the Wayward Son."

"Truth."

"Okay, do you have any ulterior motives in wanting to work for the Diadones?"

"Yeah, I want to play with guns." The smile was back on Sirius' face.

"Truth."

"Have you ever wished harm on any member of the Diadone family?"

"Not to my knowledge. But I don't know exactly who that is."

"Truth. But _please_ stop the sentences." Jones said exasperatedly.

"Well, that works for me." Sal said, nodding to Sam. "Thank you."

Sam turned to her boss with a frown. "Do you trust me?" She asked.

Sal and Sirius frowned, but for every different reasons. Sal because he was confused and Sirius because he didn't like the sound of what was coming. "Yes, with my and my son's lives." Sal said.

"Okay, may I ask him a few questions, alone?"

_AH HOLY FUCKING SHIT!_ Sirius yelled in his head. _She knows me! This was a really really really bad idea._

"Of course." Sal said. "You remember how to work the machine?"

"Yup." Sam said with a smile. _Not that I'm going to use it._ She added to herself.

"Alright then, Jones and I will just wait outside." Then Sirius was left alone with someone who knew who he was. Not an ideal situation.

Sam walked over to the camera in the corner of the room and turned it off, then she dropped her jacket on top of the microphone.

"Mr Black." Sam said coldly. Sirius gulped. "I'm sure you've figured out that I know exactly who you are. I know about the Potters, Pettigrew, those poor Muggles and Azkaban. I'm also sure that you have a wand on you right now. I want you swear an oath that you will answer my next questions truthfully. I would do the same but it's rather difficult to do that as a squib." She stood right in front of where he was seated, making him lean back a bit. "And then when we're finished, I'll decide what to do with you."

Sirius tried to find his voice, it was amazing how intimidating an angry squib was. "Okay. I, Sirius Orion Black swear on my life and magic to answer Samantha Charleston's questions truthfully to the best of my ability." A soft swirl of magic wrapped around Sirius and he waited for the questions.

Sam sat down opposite Sirius. "Did you betray the Potters?"

"No." Sam watched as nothing happened to the supposed mass murderer.

"Okay, were you the Potter's Secret Keeper?"

"No."

Sam frowned. "If it wasn't you, who was it?"

"Peter Pettigrew." Sirius spat the traitor's name in a way which told Sam exactly what Sirius thought of the man.

"So you killed him?"

"No, but I wish to Merlin everyday I had. I confronted that fucking traitor in the street and then he blew it up, cut his finger off – which is just gross if you ask me – and disappeared down the sewer as a rat." Sirius looked ready to kill, and there was no doubt as to who it was he wanted dead.

Sam was stunned. "Oh. So you really are innocent." Sirius snorted. "How did you escape Azkaban? As I recall you were high security."

"I transformed into a dog, slipped through the bars – easy to do when you're a skeleton – attacked a guard, stole his wand, obliviated him, stole his clothes and replaced them with mine, stuck him in my cell and swam to shore."

"Wow." Sam said. "If I didn't know you couldn't lie right now I'd say you were making it up. That's quite the story. How did you stay sane? Most people in high security are crazy within a year, I've heard stories of the dementors."

"The dementors don't effect animals the same, I'm an animagus and when I transformed I didn't feel them quite as much, it was still torture but it was bearable. It also helped knowing that I was innocent."

Sam whistled, "Wow, that's genius."

"Yeah, I guess it is, in hindsight. At the time it was just survival." Sirius said with a shrug.

Sam frowned as she thought of something. "There's something I don't understand, how did you get in there in the first place? Couldn't you have requested veritiserum at the trial?"

Sirius growled, in a way that was reminiscent of his animagus, "I was never convicted, I didn't _have_ a trial."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh', is right." Sirius said. "The Wizarding World is nuts, innocent men like me in prison and Death Eaters like Malfoy walking free. The anger helped me stay sane but I was slipping, I could feel my mind starting to fall through my fingers. My humanity was leaving me, I could feel myself falling into the dark abyss that had claimed so many others. I knew I had to leave, so I did. I'm just glad that Dumbledore said he would take care of Harry, I don't know if I could live with myself if I didn't know he was safe."

Sam debated telling him that Dumbledore was an idiot who left Harry with abusive relatives and that the Mafia Lord Diadone had rescued him, but decided that Sirius didn't need that sort of guilt on his conscious. Anyway, he might find it out on his own. "Okay. I'm glad that you told me. I would say that I would help you out, but as a squib there's nothing I can do. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad that someone else knows. There is now a grand total of three people in the world who know the full truth of what's happened since the attack. You, me and the guy who made my new wand. But hey, baby steps, right?"

"Yeah, baby steps. Anyway, I think we're done here, Sal is probably wondering what I'm doing to you. I have a tendency to be a bit less-than-gentle when asking certain questions..."

Sirius shivered at the look in her eyes. "Right, I see."

Sam turned the camera back on and uncovered the microphone before calling the other's back into the room. When Jones was taking all the sensors off Sirius, he took one look at the polygraph and his eyes nearly fell out of his head.

"Jeese, Sam, what were you asking him?" He showed Sal the graph, at first, it was all over the place. When Sirius had given his oath the thing had dropped and spiked twenty times in quick succession and then flat-lined for a full second. The next five seconds were a jumbled mess followed by nothing but 'true' readings for the next ten minutes.

"Nothing much, just making sure his heart was in the right place." Sam said with a smirk. It could be interpreted in many ways and could have meant that she had done a few different things. The one that the majority of people in the room guessed it to be was 'I threatened him with the removal of a valuable piece of anatomy if he didn't answer completely truthfully'.

"Well then, Mr. White, Evan, welcome to the family. Nick will get your stuff and move it to your new flat, he will also give you a training schedule. I expect you to be ready in less than two months." Sal said with a genuine smile as he shook Sirius' hand, "It's good to have you with us."

Sirius grinned, life was good.

* * *

Author's note: See, I'm nice, no cliffie this time. Please R & R!


	6. Magic

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Six – Magic**

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Never have, never will.

Author's Note: Here is the next chapter. I'm going to post 'The Diadone Method: Moony's Story' sometime in the next few days. I was going to put it in here but it was just getting _way_ too long. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Nio had just turned nine and was meditating again, he had progressed to the point where when he meditated, his entire body glowed bright gold, almost white. Also, whether he wanted to or not, he hovered about a half meter above the ground and a soft hum emanated from his chest echoing around the sound and light proof room devoid of _any_ sort of electronic device (they all ended up inexplicably and spectacularly destroyed). A few weeks back, Nio had gone back to exploring his 'golden light ball', as he had taken to calling it. He had figured out about a year ago that his consciousness could travel around _inside_ him when he was in this meditative state. He could see tendrils of golden white light that ran all the way from his toes to the tips of his hair, he, with the help of his Sensei, had decided that this was either his life force or his magic, either way the light was in his entire body. In the past few weeks though, he had stopped following the tendrils around and started poking around _inside_ his golden light ball, what he found shocked him so much that he fell out of the air. The next day he went back and studied that which surprised him before, there was something in the very centre, it was another ball of light only this was seemed almost solid and it was a brilliant white laced with every colour of the rainbow. It was so bright that even though it was his _consciousness_ looking at it, not his really eyes, he started to see spots. However, as he looked closer, he noticed some sort of net surrounding it, four, actually; one was an emerald green, almost the same shade as his eyes, it felt comforting but out of place, as if it didn't belong; the second net was a muddy brown, this one made Nio feel nauseous; the third was a lighter brown, almost orange, it too made him feel sick; and the final net was a thick, almost tar-like black, it felt like death.

When Nio found these nets, he knew they weren't supposed to be there, the last three felt so _wrong_ and even the first one felt constricting and out of place. Instinct, something Nio had learned to trust, told him that these nets needed to go. He spent the next few days studying them and describing them to his Sensei who, even thought she knew nothing about them, agreed that they should try and get them away from what was obviously the source of all his inner light. She suggested two things to try, either willing them away – which was how he did a lot of his magic – or using some sort of mental something to pull or pry them off.

This morning, Nio was going to try and get them off, starting with the black one. Ever since he had found it, that net had been giving him terrible nightmares and it haunted his every move, he couldn't even forget about it when he was in the middle of a karate fight session with Nick and Evan, _at the same time_. So now, he was using the virtual hands of his consciousness to gouge great holes in the black net, finally ripping it to pieces and pulling it away from his precious ball of light. As soon as none of the net was touching it anymore, it disintegrated and then faded into nothing, it felt as if something nasty and poisonous had been expelled from his body. He may have been imagining it – this was all in his head after all – but he was pretty sure that with the net's destruction, he heard a shriek of unearthly rage quickly followed by one of extreme pain. But again, this was all in his head.

Nio gave a silent cheer and even though his hands felt like they were on fire, he started in on the green net. He was determined to get rid of all of these this morning. He had barely touched the green net before it faded gracefully, and very anticlimactically, away. Then, with a scowl worthy of his father (or Snape if he knew him), Nio wrapped his hands around both remaining nets and heaved for all he was worth. Just as he was going to give up and do them one at a time, they fell to bits, but before he had time to gloat, he felt himself thrown forcefully back to reality just in time to see a brilliant white pulse of light leap from his chest, form a sphere, and then grow exponentially at an unimaginable speed. Within milliseconds it had swept from the room – completely ignoring the walls – and raced through and out of the house. It was shaped like an expanding bubble, in a way that suggested it was growing up and down as much as out. Just as he watched it disappear over the horizon, Nio knew no more.

Kimiko, who hadn't seen the pulse (because it was pure magic) watched as her student fell from his half metre meditating height and passed out.

* * *

Sirius, who was currently in a free for all sparring match with Leo, Nick, Vince and the terror known as Annkia, saw, and felt a wave of pure, raw magic race through the gym. He was so shocked that he sat down right in the middle of the floor. Leo, Nick and Vince, who saw this, stopped and asked if he was alright, Annika took advantage of the situation and rapped all four of them on the head.

Sirius, claiming that Annika's hit had caused him serious pain – it was a running joke in the guard force that Evan, while being one of the toughest men around, was actually a wimp – went into the locker room and just sat on the bench thinking about where in Merlin's weird ass name that magic could have come from. He was so distracted that he didn't even noticed he was swearing wizard-style in his head. The magic had obviously originated in the house because when it passed him he could still tell it had a distinct rounded, bubble-like shape. If it was an expanding bubble then the closer to the point of origin you were, the more sphere-like the magic would be, if he could still see the shape, he was close to the source. _But who? _He asked himself over and over again. _Who in _this_ house has enough magic to produce a wave like that?_ _I mean, I would understand if there was one other, maybe two, wizards like me here, hiding from the ministry and such, but _that? _I don't think even Dumbledore could produce that simple, raw power._ Sirius decided a trip to Knockturn Alley was in order. He had heard Moody talking with Mundungus years ago about a charm for his eye that would allow him to see auras. The reason he was asking Dung was because it was, and still is, extremely illegal. _Hey, I'm supposedly a mass-murderer and I've broken out of Azkaban, what's a few illegal charms to me? It's not like I have a reputation to uphold anymore._ He thought, slightly grumpily. He was still a bit peeved that he was on the run. _Ha ha...Peeves..._ He giggled, then stopped abruptly when he realised that Sirius Black was giggling.

The next morning, Sirius ducked into a pharmacy and found a pair of those fake contacts made to change your eye colour, he charmed them clear before heading to Knockturn.

"You want me to do _what?_" The slightly sketchy glasses (and eye) maker asked.

"I would like you to place the charm for seeing auras on these contacts." Sirius said slowly, after so long in the Muggle world he had forgotten how narrow-minded and slow wizards could be about new things.

"Yeah, I heard you the first time." The man said irritably. "But what _are _they? All I see are two weird clear things floating in a little case. How the bloody hell are _they_ supposed to help you _see_?"

Sirius sighed. "These," He said, pointing at the contacts, "Are little pieces of plastic – um...just think flexible glass – which you put in your eyes like this." He put one in and thanked Leo for convincing him to have cat eyes for Halloween one year, it meant that he knew how to wear contacts without crying. "See, you put them in, and they work like glasses, except without the frames and the whole falling off your face deal." He took it out and put it back in the case.

"But how do they change your eye sight? They're too small to have the correct amount of –" Sirius cut him off.

"Look man, I'm not an expert, I don't know exactly how they work, go talk to an optometrist, they can tell you how it's done. I don't have time for this. Right now, I just want you to place the charm, or, if you don't want to, just tell it to me and I'll do it myself!"

After a minute or so, all the annoyance vanished from the man's face. "That's _brilliant_! I may not be the biggest fan of Muggles, but this will make me so rich!"

Sirius nearly growled. "The charm?"

"Oh, right." The man waved his wand and muttered something incomprehensible at each contact. "There you go! Now, before you leave, can you tell me how to talk to someone about these things?"

Sirius snatched up the contact case and dropped a gold coin and some silver on the counter. Then he conjured a paper and pen (he was so done with quills and parchment, if he never had to see another one in his life it would be too soon) and jotted down the address of the optometrist across the street from the pharmacy. "Just go there and whatever you do, _be polite_!" Then he stormed out of the shop, he had exactly six minutes till he had to be suited up and ready for training. Nio and him had been working on a new form of target practice that involved hotwheels and silly string. Sirius absolutely loved that boy, he was an inventive genius and a fun kid, that combination was just magic! It was like being back at Hogwarts with James...Sirius stopped that train of thought there, Nio already reminded him of James enough, there was no need to go comparing the two. There were only a few things about his life that he would change right now, he wanted to be free (as Sirius Black, not Evan White), he wanted that rat dead and gone, he wanted Remus to be his friend again and he wanted Harry to be best friends with Nio. Even though Nio was a Muggle, Sirius knew that if Harry got to know him they would get along great, especially if Harry was anything like his father was. Sirius smiled dreamily to himself as he built a perfect little world where Harry, Nio, Remus and him ran around and wreaked havoc on the world. Shaking his head he tried to change the topic of his thoughts.

As he was pulling on his vest, Sirius finally found a new thing to think about; the wizard who charmed his contacts. Sirius remembered his reaction to the contacts, and realised that he had probably just revolutionised the entire wizarding optometry industry. He shrugged, it was about time they started learning from the Muggles and their inventions. Then Sirius smirked, duct tape was next, spello tape had nothing on the gray and white.

Sirius looked at his watch and found that he still had a whole minute and 40 seconds until Nio would walk into the firing range's atrium, that boy was always exactly on time. So he had plenty of time to pop the contacts in. The first thing he noticed was that his personal aura was a lovely shade of blue with silver swirls in it. The blue was not too bright and not too dark; it was like the sky on a crisp winter's day. The fact that slightly darker gray and almost black tendrils were in it was rather disturbing but also completely understandable, everyone had a bit of dark in there, that was a commonly known fact. He probably had more than the normal about due to five too many years in Azkaban and some more-than-average dark tendencies, thanks so much mum and dad.

As soon as he walked into the atrium, Sirius learned something new; even Muggles had auras. Why had no one said anything? The Muggles had varying sizes of aura, and the colour of them was really washed out, he noticed that some of his more talented comrades had slightly brighter and/or larger auras. _Hmm, maybe I'm such a good shot because I'm a wizard? _Sirius asked himself, _Wait, hold up. That would mean Nio that was a wizard too. And anyway, if wizards are better at this stuff than __Muggles, why does no one know? Because none of the ones in normal wizarding society have ever shot a gun, or if they have, they haven't had anyone to compare it to._ He answered himself. _Fuck. Now I'm having conversations in my head. Great._ However, every single thought flew out the window when Nio walked in. Nio's aura was a blinding white with mesmerizing multicoloured swirls, they ranged from the deepest magenta to the most brilliant emerald. There was very distinct black lines but they were woven in with the rest of it. Unlike Sirius' floating tendrils, they didn't look like poison, rather, they seemed to highlight and complement everything else. Nio's aura was the epitome of beautiful and it was as wide as he was tall and taller than Sirius. _Well, now I know where the magic came from._ Sirius thought absently. Then he decided that he would need a book explaining aura colours and the differences between woven colours, random tendrils and swirls. _ Well, this is all well and good, but Nio is looking at me like I've lost my marbles._

"Hey Nio, ready for our experiment? It's going to be fantastic!" Sirius said, really hoping that Nio hadn't noticed his rather long lapse in attention. But he had no suck luck, in fact, his luck seemed to have fled to Siberia.

"Evan, did you know you're glowing blue today?" Nio asked with a frown, then he muttered under his breath, "You and everybody else apparently."

Sirius panicked. "Oh, I am? It must have been something I ate." _Seriously Sirius? That's the best you can come up with?_ He berated himself mentally, not even remembering to chuckle at the wore out joke.

Nio, who had woken up to find that every single person he met was glowing in various faded shades of the rainbow, could also tell exactly when someone was lying, it was a gift. Nio expertly raised an eyebrow in a way that no nine year old should be able to do. "Liar." He said simply. "Try again."

Sirius looked defeated. "Okay, yes, I have noticed that I'm looking a bit blue." Then some of his less-than-respectful personality surfaced, "Have _you_ noticed that _you're_ glowing rather more dramatically than me this morning? I might be blue, but you're a fucking rainbow."

"Why yes, yes I have." Nio said with a wide grin. "I'd have to say I do quite resemble a rainbow, it's mostly white but those colours are quite fascinating. But I'd also like to point something out; you're the only other person I've seen this morning with a properly coloured glow and also the only other one who can see them. That leads me to believe that we have more in common than we think. A few more observations; we both have near perfect shooting skills, a rather eclectic range of overdeveloped talents and an appetite which could rival or surpass that of a horse."

Sirius stared at Nio with his mouth hanging open, "You've figured all that out since you walked in?"

"Well, you were staring at me for five minutes." Nio said with a snort, it gave me a bit of time to think."

Sirius was embarrassed that he had been so obvious; it wasn't good for his 'nothing can phase me' reputation. He hoped no one else noticed.

"Okay Evan," Nio continued. "I've got all that, now it's your turn."

"My turn to what?" Sirius asked blankly.

Nio rolled his eyes, "Your turn to try and find out what we have in common. I have one more idea but absolutely no proof that you might share this particular...skill. So, get thinking, all these glowing people are getting on my nerves."

The sinking feeling which had made itself known in Sirius' stomach a few minutes ago returned full force. "Well, um. The only thing that really makes me that different from everyone else here is..." And here he dropped his voice and leaned to whisper in Nio's ear, "It that I can do...um...magic."

"YES!" Nio whooped with a fist pump. "I knew it!"

Everyone in the firing range's atrium looked at them in confusion. Sirius rolled his eyes, "It's nothing, he's just a bit more hyper this morning than usual." He said with a straight face while Nio frowned. Nio really didn't like being called hyper, it reminded him just how young he was.

"I'll get you back for that." Nio said with a deadly smirk, "And _now_ I can play as dirty as I like. Tell me Evan, what are your thoughts on green flames instead of hair?"

Sirius made a choking sound, he really liked his hair, even if it wasn't silky black anymore. Then what Nio said actually registered. "Wait, you- you can control it?" N_ow?_"

Nio frowned and looked at Sirius as if he were mentally impaired. "Uh, yeah. Why, can't you?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm an adult! Oh, I get it, you got your wand early. Must be nice having friends in high places, well, family actually but, same difference."

Nio grinned, "Ah cool! You guys have _wands_? Damn, that is fucking awesome! When can I get one?" Nio hadn't been this excited since his dad had finally deemed him old enough to learn to shoot.

Sirius stared at Nio, he had _that_ aura and was threatening to colourfully set his hair on fire, _without_ a wand? "What _are_ you?" He asked rather rudely.

Nio looked at him like he was nuts, "Um, a magician? Well, that's what I call myself. I mean, I can do magic so that makes me a magician doesn't it?"

Sirius nearly fainted as he realised that Nio didn't know about wizards. "You're a _Muggleborn_?"

"No idea what the hell that means, so I'm going to go with 'yes'."

"Fuck me now." Sirius said, dropping his head into his hands.

"That's called pedophilia, and kinda looked down upon." Nio said with a smirk. "Even in the mafia there are some rules that were _not_ made to be broken." The sickened look on Sirius' face turned Nio's smile into an all out grin. It was a good thing the rest of the guards had already left the atrium because they were talking fairly loudly.

Sirius rolled his eyes at Nio's statement. "You spend too much time with us raunchy guards. Nine year olds aren't supposed to know those types of words."

Nio's response was to give him the best innocent little child expression. Then he asked, "Well, could you tell me what 'muggleborn' is please? You might as well start explaining now because the questions are going to keep coming for a very long time. You do realise that, right?"

With a sigh Sirius did realise that he was probably going to end up spending the next month or so explaining every single detail of the Wizarding World to a genius kid and his Mafia Lord dad. Lovely. "A Muggleborn is a witch or wizard – no, we aren't called magicians – who is born to non-magical parents, also known as Muggles."

Nio frowned, he actually had no idea who his parents were, his dad had searched _all_ the databases for the name 'Potter' and nothing had come up. "Well," Nio said tentatively. "We never did find out anything about my birth parents. If they were a witch and wizard it might explain why there's no record of them."

Sirius' head snapped up, "You're _adopted_? But you- and Sal- and your- but then- and everyone- I'm confused."

With a roll of his eyes, Nio walked to the door, "I think we should go and talk to my dad."

"Uh huh." Was all Sirius could say, his mind had taken a bit of a vacation.

Nio, on the other hand, had plenty to say. "We're lucky you know, Dad doesn't have much on his schedule today, just paperwork really, so he'll be extremely glad to see us, he always likes it when I interrupt his paperwork. Not to mention the fact that you're a wizard like me and can answer all our questions. Maybe we should grab Vince, Maria and Sensei too, they'll want to know all about this. Nah, we can talk to them later. Oh hey, you said you had a wand, I totally want one too, where do you get them? Are there like, a whole bunch of us or just a few? Is it like a really cool secret society, like a cult or something? Are there broomsticks you can fly around on? That would be awesome, I would love to fly, I can already float but actual flying would be so much better. Hey, you could make some really fun games with them too! You could dive bomb, race, you could broom surf! Oh man, if you have a pointy hat I think I'll laugh my head off, and the guys would never let you live it down. Can you make like potions and things? Do they boil with smoky stuff? Do people have worts or is that just the girls? No wait, that would be stupid, I mean, you look normal and I look normal. Okay, if I see a green person I'm taking a picture. Can you turn people into frogs? That would be a really good way to get people to talk, it's the best threat ever. 'If you don't tell me who you're working for in the next five seconds I'll turn you into a frog and set you down in the middle of the motorway.' Damn, that would be awesome. Hey, do you have magic carpets? What happens if you fall off? _Can _you fall off, maybe there's like a safety feature or something. Speaking of carpets, are there really genies in a bottle? Have you ever fought a giant? Oh, what about dragons? Do you have real, fire-breathing dragons?"

Sirius had never been happier to see a door in his entire life, he wanted to elope with it or something.

Nio knocked, waited a second and a half and then strode into his father's office.

"Oh, Nio, have you come to help? Please tell me you have. If I have to read another one of these poorly written reports I'm pretty sure – Oh, hello Evan." Sal said, when he looked up and notice that Nio wasn't alone. See, there was only one person who knocks like Nio and only one person who waits exactly a second and a half before opening the door; Sal had long since stopped bothering to look up when Nio entered. Because Sirius had waited right be the door, Sal hadn't heard that there was a second person there. "What can I do for you two?"

"Dad, Evan's a wizard, I found out just today!" Nio said after taking a deep breath to calm himself down a bit. Even he adopted a slightly more formal tone when in Salvator's office. "Remember how I kept asking you and Vince if you could see people's glow the morning? Well, Evan has a _really_ big, colourful one _and_ he can see them too. I think it has something to do with whatever I managed to do yesterday."

Sal looked at Evan carefully. This was the man he had taken a liking to as soon as he met him, the mystery man who tried unsuccessfully to hide his name and past, the innocent man who broke out of prison. Evan White and Sirius Black, a wizard.

"I see." Sal said. "And why, pray tell, am I only finding this out now? It would have been very useful to know when I hired you."

Sirius scuffed his toe against the carpet looking like a guilty child, "Um, there's this thing, called the Statue of Secrecy. It basically makes it illegal for us witches and wizards to tell non-magic people, Muggles, about the existence of magic and the Wizarding World."

"I see." Sal said again, looking thoughtful. "Well Evan, you've just been promoted."

"Sir?" Sirius asked, slightly confused.

"You've been promoted. You're new job has two parts, private tutor for Nio here and personal magic advisor for me. You're official job is Nio's secondary bodyguard. You will report only to Vince and myself. You will also be meeting with Maria and Kimiko Sensei at least once a week to answer their questions and fill them in on any relevant magical information. No one, and I repeat, _no one,_ outside of these three people and myself are to know who and what you and Nio are. Do you understand?"

Sirius gulped. _What have I gotten myself into? Can't I just go back to the bistro?_ He asked himself, then the annoying little voice in the back of his head piped up, _But this is so much more interesting, not to mention more fun. Come on, you know you'll like it. Admit it, you're excited._

And that's how, unbeknownst to him, Sirius introduced his godson to the Wizarding World.

* * *

At the same time that Sirius was teaching Nio magic, Nio was teaching Sirius magic. As strange as it sounds, that's exactly what was happening, Nio had all but discovered a completely new brand of magic and was not at all adversed to sharing what he knew. Nio taught Evan wandless magic, no where near as much as Nio knew but a hell of a lot more than every other wizard out there (with the very slim possibility of Dumbledore). It might have helped that because Nio was younger he the ability to explain it simply, without all those big complicated magical terms that Sirius never understood in the first place. Nio just walked him through what he had been doing when he discovered the various things he could do. Nio talked about how he found what he now knew to be his magical core, how he _literally_ found it, something Sirius didn't even know was possible, but was super excited when he found his. Sirius had also grown up being told that wandless magic was an extremely complex art, which could only be learned by the most powerful and experienced wizards. Nio just told him that you need to _want_ whatever it is to happen, and if that didn't work then he should find the blue light in his veins (Sirius had a mostly blue aura so his core was bluish), push it at his fingers and then throw it. "It's easy." Nio had said, "Just shove the light at it." When Sirius said that magic didn't work like that Nio just whacked him and told him to "Shut up and get on with it." Needless to say, Sirius finally figured it out, he really didn't like being hit. Then he went and burned (wandlessly and with purple flames, to his immense satisfaction) the wandless magic book that told him to "Feel the magic in the air and bend it to your will."

Sirius couldn't believe that in a few short weeks he had learned how to juggle fire! Not to mention being able to blast through stuff just by throwing your magic at it. And the best thing was, according to Nio, no matter how much magic you pour out and where it goes, you can always call it back! No more waiting around for your core to recharge or crazy shit like that, just say "Come on magic, come on, come on, gooood magic, that's a good magic."

A few days after Nio had taught Sirius his brand of wandless magic, Sirius had held his wand and carefully studied how magic worked with it, if their magic could do things by being pushed out, what did a wand do to make it better or easier? To both his and Nio's surprise, the wand was basically and extension of the magic in Sirius' veins. The only difference was that as Sirius' magic ran down through the wand, it picked up a greater variety of coloured swirls and highlights so that when it came out the other end it was more like a mosaic. They sat for hours talking about how a 'wand chooses the wizard' and theorized that it chose based on how well it could balance the person's magic before it came out the other end. They also decided that the main colour of and the highlights/swirls in a person's aura were the reason why different people were better or worse at the different branches of magic. If Nio and Sirius hadn't been so adversed with them, the two might have written a book, but then again 'A New Approach to Wandless Magic by Antonio Diadone and Sirius Black' wasn't really a publishable book – if Sirius was going to spend the time writing a book then he would _definitely_ want to take credit for it. However, unbeknownst to them, Kimiko Sensei (who was with them every step of the way trying to make sure they didn't blow something up or get lost in their minds – she would bring them back to reality after an hour or two) was doing just that. It was titled 'An Exploration of Magic as discovered by Antonio Diadone and Evan White, by Kimiko Shinomia'. It would later be published as such and only after many years would the true names of the subjects be revealed, it became a very controversial book not only because of it's authors but also because it completely discounted all other wandless magic books out there _and_ it was written by a Muggle.

* * *

After a month of working with Nio on his magic and telling him about wizards in general, Sal called Sirius and Nio into his office. They had just finished talking over the latest important and extremely relevant part of the wizarding world, the treatment of Muggleborn's. Sal asked Evan to stay behind and Nio, who didn't really have anything else to do, was off to the side shredding papers, something he greatly enjoyed, despite it's monotony.

"Evan." Sal said. "It has come to my attention that while your current identification is adequate it will not hold up to the severe scrutiny which you will probably be subjected to now that you work with Nio on an everyday basis. Therefore, I have brought my personal favourite forger, Mr. John Doe. He should be getting here in a minute.

When someone knocked on the door, Sirius stood up to greet Mr. Doe. _John Doe?_ He thought with amusement, _Could you pick a more obvious alias?_ It made sense though, people would know not to try and look up his fake name because it was just that, an obviously fake name.

"Come in." Sal called as he too stood up and walked out from behind his desk. Sal was momentarily blocking Sirius' view, but when that changed, Sirius' jaw hit the floor and he got the shock of his life.

"Remus?" Sirius asked, completely baffled. "You look amazing! What the hell are you doing here?"

Remus blinked and looked at the tall, brown haired man in front of him. Then he growled low in his throat, "Sirius." He was about to launch himself at the man he believed betrayed them all when he was interrupted by a child's voice.

"You guys know each other?" Nio asked from behind the shredder. Then he remembered the names, "Woah, back up! You're John Doe – oh, right, the most obvious alias in the whole goddamn world. But _you_, you're Evan White. Who the hell are you people?"

Sal cringed, he knew that Evan was Sirius hiding from his pasts and he knew John was an alias (come on, who didn't?) but that they both knew each other mean that... "Well, now I know why you're the best."

"What?" All three wizards asked in unison.

"John. I know why he's the best forger in Europe. It's obvious, he uses magic to make them perfect!"

"Wait, _you_ know about magic?" Remus asked, while Sirius asked,

"_You're_ the forger?" At exactly the same time.

There was a moment of silence while Sirius and Remus stared at each other in surprise and confusion before Nio said, "This is the coolest thing EVER!"

Remus, however, _didn't_ think this was cool at all, he growled, whipped out his wand and lunged at Sirius. Nio, who didn't think it would be a good idea to have a magic fight in the middle of his dad's office, threw what he called a gooy magic wall (it's basically pure magic that has the consistency of goo) between the two of them. Remus ran straight into the magic and got stuck.

"What the hell?" Remus and Sirius asked each other. "What did you do?" These questions were said at exactly the same time, much to the chagrin of both speakers, but Remus was more annoyed by it.

"Hey guys?" Nio said, waving his hands to get their attention. "Could we maybe _not_ have a magic fight? As cool as it might be to watch, I'm not sure my dad would appreciate it."

Remus flailed around in the goo. "I don't think you understand! This man is a murderer! He betrayed two of his friends, killed another and then blew up a street for good measure! He's supposed to be in PRISON!"

Sal would have laughed at the situation is his office hadn't been in danger of being obliterated. As it was, he was extremely glad that Nio a) was very smart, b) could do magic and c) had really fast reflexes.

"Okay you two. I know all about Evan's past as Sirius as well as the allegations against him." Sal said as Remus glared. "I also happen to know that he's innocent. Now, if you guys could put your sticks away and sit down quietly, we can discuss this like civilized human beings."

Remus and Sirius glared at each other for a few more seconds before Remus deflated and Sirius sighed.

"Now," Sal said. "Do you promise to not attack each other?" Both men nodded. "Good. Nio, if you could do the honours." Sal said, gesturing to the magic goo Remus was still stuck in.

"Oh, right." Nio said. "Um, hold on a minute." He frowned and then the magic just rushed back at him, hitting him in the chest, but he didn't seem to notice because he was already sitting down on one of the couches. Sal, Sirius and Remus soon followed. Sal sat next to his son and Remus and Sirius sat at opposite ends of the table, still glaring at each other. Their expressions were so serious that Nio had to fight the urge to laugh, which he did quite successfully.

Nio decided that because he seemed to currently be the only magical person with both their head screwed on straight and no one looking like they were going to kill him, that he should probably get things going. "Okay. Sirius told me about this thing called a Wizard's Oath, when he told us he used it to prove his innocence. We know he was telling the truth because he also answered some, uh, rather embarrassing questions. Anyway, I think it would be appropriate right about now, don't you?"

"Yes please!" Sirius said thankfully, He was perfectly willing to explain everything and he really needed Remus to believe him.

Remus continued to glare, "I have a better idea." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled a rather large vial of what looked like water.

"Damn, Remus, that's a shit ton of veritaserum." Sirius said incredulously. "How the hell did you get that much? And _why_ are you carrying it around?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me, _Black_." Remus spat. "And it's good to have around in my line of work."

Sirius just snorted, "_That_, I can believe. Forgery + Crime + Mafia + Veritaserum = much higher life expectancy. Now, are we doing this or not?"

Remus looked at Sal and Nio, "Would you mind terrible if we started this alone? This potion causes a person to tell the whole truth and some of the questions will be revealing rather personal things not only about him but about me as well. I don't doubt that if Sirius is innocent, which I'm finding _really_ hard to believe right now, he will want to do the same to me."

Sal looked between the two men, he would be extremely interested to know everything about them but he already knew what he needed to in order to have a working business relationship. He held a certain amount of respect for his employees and friends and this sounded like it would get _very_ personal, so he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, he could use the time to explain Sirius to Nio.

"Alright. You can use room two, that's the one without cameras etc. But I want you both to come out alive and unharmed, you hear me? No killing while I'm not around."

Had Nio been a normal nine year old he would have pouted at being left out of something that sounded really fun, but he was a Diadone, and Diadones would rather be caught dead than pouting.

As soon as the door to the interrogation room closed, Remus whipped around and pinned Sirius to the wall. "You had damn well better be telling the truth about your innocence or Merlin help me I will make you wish you'd never been born. I will rip you limb from limb with my bare hands."

Sirius gulped, there is nothing like being threatened by an angry werewolf to make sure you tell the truth, serum or no serum. "Uh huh." Then they sat down and Remus administrated the veritaserum like an expert, which he probably was.

"What's your full name?"

"Sirius Orion Black, also known as Evan White, Padfoot, Pads and sometimes Snuffles."

Remus nodded, his personal version of the truth potion was working wonderfully, he had played around with it a bit and experimented with adding charms. _His_ veritaserum not only made you tell the truth but it made you tell the _whole_ truth, you couldn't purposefully leave something out, it also made you say any information that was important and associated with the question. It also let the person to retain a little of their personality, which allowed intentions and motivations to be told as well. Many people would kill for this, but Remus wasn't sharing.

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"No. However, I was approached in my fifth, sixth and seventh years of school and then ordered by my bitch of a mother to join, but I ignored all the offers and ran away when I refused my mother."

That was news to Remus; Sirius had told them that someone tried to get him to join in their fifth year but he never mentioned the other times or his mother. "Did you betray the Potters?"

"No, but I feel like I did. I convinced them to change Secret Keepers at the last minute and to use me as a decoy, Peter was the actual Secret Keeper. He was the one who actually betrayed them. Fucking ass hole."

Remus could have cried, his best friend wasn't a traitor. "Did you kill Peter Pettigrew?"

"No. But I was going to. I chased him down that street but before I could end traitorous rat's life, he screamed about my 'betrayal' and then blew up the street before escaping as Wormtail down the sewer. Bastard chopped his own finger off."

"Where is Peter now?"

"I don't know but as soon as I get even a hint I will hunt him down and kill him."

Remus threw his arms around Sirius and nearly hugged him to death, but he wasn't finished with his questions yet. "How did you escape Azkaban and why don't they know you're gone?"

"Cause wizards are idiots. I had been changing into Padfoot to keep my sanity but it wasn't really working, Because I was skinny enough as a dog, I jumped through the bars, knocked over the guard who liked to hit us, stole his wand and clothes, obliviated him – I'm not sure how well I did that, first magic after incarceration you know – transfigured him to look like me – dramatically improved his looks if you ask me – stuck him in my cell and swam to shore."

"How did you start working for the Diadone's"

Sirius gave as much of a smile at Remus' veritaserum would allow. "I got a job at the Wayward Son Bistro as a dishwasher (Remus snorted) then got promoted to bus boy, then waiter and then host/cashier. My manager turned out to be a spy who was stealing money as well – which is just stupid if you ask me – and when I noticed the money missing she pulled a gun on me. I stunned her then hit her with a frying pan (Remus laughed) and tied her up with duct tape. I called a number that was on a sticky note I summoned titled 'Diadone Help'. When Sal and Nick saw what I'd done they told me I could either work for them or push daises, even though I had no idea what pushing daises meant at the time I chose them. Nick and I went to the firing range where we found out I'm a perfect shot, well, almost. Nio's better than me, keeps me humble (another snort). I met with Sal the next morning, took a polygraph, got interviewed via oath by Samantha Charleston who's a squib but no one knows, then I was hired as a guard and given training. My first test was interrupted by Nio who challenged me to a shooting contest, he won but I still got hired. I later became one of the main people looking out for Nio because apparently he likes me. I was then promoted to magic tutor when I found out he was a wizard and vice versa."

"Wow." Said Remus, if he didn't know his veritaserum was infallible (which it was, he'd tested it on _everyone_, it worked on everyone from Hagrid, to a vampire friend of his, who was in the film business) he would have thought that Sirius was pulling this all out of his ass. But then, most of his plans seemed to come from that vicinity so you never know. "That's amazing."

"I know, I still can't believe it all worked. I completely expected to be back in Azkaban within a month."

"Just how long have you been out? You look really good for an Azkaban escapee, not that we have anyone to compare you to or anything."

"Oh, I escaped nearly four years ago. The anniversary is in a few months." Sirius said smugly, even under the effects of the serum.

"_FOUR YEARS? _How have you been out for four years? And they haven't noticed!"

"Wizards are clueless, they expect a prisoner that looks like Sirius Black raving his innocence, they got a prisoner who looks like me and is raving his innocence. Well, by now he's probably mad...Ah well, I don't care, the man was a monster."

"That's genius, absolutely genius! And not in their wildest nightmares would someone be able to escape from that hell hole so they had no reason to question why that guy is raving about a different innocence." Remus said as he administered the antidote (again, of his own creation), and waited for him to fully come back to his senses. Then they hugged only as reunited friends can.

"I can't believe you _broke out of Azkaban!_"

"Awesome, right?" Sirius said with a grin, he was glad that he had been free long enough to be able to joke about it, it made things a lot easier. They didn't have to go through the, 'Oh I'm so sorry I ever doubted you, please don't blame your fragile mental state on me.' "Almost worth going there if only to say I'm the only person ever to escape...and the best part is, _no one knows_!" He threw his arms in the air just to emphasize the final statement.

"Only you." Remus said, shaking his head. "Only you could pull off the best escape ever without anyone finding out."

Sirius laughed, "I guess you could say escapes are like pranks; they're always good but they're only _great_ if no one knows it was you."

Remus joined in with the laughter, "Did you seriously just equate a prison break with pranks?"

"Yup!" Sirius said smugly. "That's me, always Sirius." Remus lobbed a pillow him. Sirius frowned, "Where the hell did you get a pillow?"

"Wizard, remember?" Remus said, waving his wand around in Sirius' face.

"Woah! Hey, point that thing else where! It took a long time to get this face looking good again, I don't need some good for nothing master forger ruining all my hard work! Speaking of that, _how_ in Merlin's name did you get started in _that_?"

Remus grinned, "Oh, it's a great story and I haven't been able to tell anyone the full thing before so this will be fun. You want the veritaserum?"

"Nah, I trust you." Sirius said. In truth, he did want to use it but because he had once suspected Remus as well, there was a lot of trust lost between the two of them. They needed to start building it sometime, now was as good a time as any.

"Okay, what would you like to know?"

"For starters, how long have you been doing this? Sal knows you pretty well and for him that means five years, _minimum_."

I started the summer after fifth year." Remus said, looking rather smug.

"FIFTH YEAR? You were barely 16!"

"Yeah, it was right after we got our OWL results, remember how stoked you and James were that you had good enough marks to get into the NEWTs you'd need for auror school? Well, it was then that it hit me, even though I got perfect scores, yeah, I never told you guys but I got O+s in everything, kinda pissed Lily off a bit. I knew how much being at the top of the class was for her so I let her have that in school, but I threw everything I had at those tests. Anyway, what hit me was the fact that no matter how good my marks I wouldn't be able to get a job. I remember that after I got back from James', I took one more look at my straight O+s and cried my heart out. Then, I woke up the next morning and decided that the Wizarding World could go screw itself. I made myself an ID and went to see what I'd need to do if I wanted to work in the Muggle. Turns out, you need everything from birth certificates to vaccination records. Well, I made those for myself and it all went from there. I was celebrating in a coffee shop when I heard some siblings complaining that the only good, affordable forger had nicked off the France, I decided to step in and lend a hand, things went from there. My official name, on all the records – I even pay taxes – is Charles Johnson, nice and generic but I never told anyone that, I always call myself John Doe, and that's what's on my cards. Well, word spread and by the time we graduated I was doing really well and a lot of people knew me. I was 19 when I first worked for Sal, but I didn't really know who he was, it was in the middle of the war so I was just going through the motions. By the time Harry was born, things were going great in the Muggle world but I think part of the reason you guys even thought I could be the leak was because I was spending so much time away. Anyway, I put my mail order business on hold – told them I was on holiday – to help out more with the war. After that night, I upped and left. I haven't really been back since."

"Oh." Sirius was feeling a bit awkward with the way the conversation had turned so he changed the subject. "So, what do you do? Do you just copy and duplicate a bunch of stuff and fill it in?"

Remus started laughing. "Hell no! There's an art to this, it's more than just duplicating charms. Every paper, document or ID is different, they've got serial numbers, seals, reference numbers, there's so many different bits that you can't just copy them. Also, you'd be surprised to know that quite a few Muggleborns work with the police, many in the detective branch, and there are some who work on detecting forgeries and following up on suspect identification documents. There's this nasty bitch who's almost caught me twice, Sophia McCallister, she was a seventh year when we were icklefirsties. First time she almost got me was back when I was still using copying and duplicating charms, she can sniff them out a mile away and the second time was when I used the wrong combination of paper type, National Insurance number and date. The number I used actually placed the rough estimate of the person at 12 as opposed to the 70-something I was going for, and the paper was too old. Ah well, I learned my lesson."

"Damn." Sirius said. "That sounds fucking complicated."

Remus grinned, "It is, but is so much fun! And when you get something _really_ complicated done _perfectly_, oh man, that is so satisfying! Especially if it's art."

"You do art? But I thought you couldn't duplicate or copy things. How do you get it right if you can't copy it?"

Remus smirked, "Because I don't copy them."

"You mean you DRAW them, _yourself?_"

"Pretty much."

"How is that magic? I thought you used magic for this." Sirius was thoroughly confused. "I don't get it."

With a sigh, Remus explained the subtle art of forgery. "The first step is getting it to look right, this is the easy part. You learn the style of the artist and then place a skill charm on yourself. Or, if you're the brilliant Remus Lupin with O+s in Arithmacy, Transfiguration and charms, you develop your _own_ spell. It took me almost two years to perfect, but the 'Authenticity Charm', known to me and only me, allows you to perfectly emulate that artist's style. This charm is great in that you don't have to just use it on forgeries, you can actually make _new_ paintings in the same way that artist would have. Can you say million pound lost masterpiece?"

"Damn, that's some seriously complex shit." Sirius said, impressed and very proud of his friend.

"Well, getting the charm to balance out was annoying and took a long time but the hard part is getting the materials correct. See, when a piece of art is sold, bought or displayed, it is usually authenticated. They test the canvass, paint/oil/pencil etc. frame or lack thereof, board, signature and a bunch of other annoying crap. The real magic comes in when I go about setting the age of the materials. I have to change the chemical composition, toxicity, acidity...you have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

"Nope." Sirius said happily. "But it all sounds very complicated, delicate, precise, researched, basically, it sounds like you. Or, the you I remember, I guess that's not really you."

"Oh Sirius, I'm still me, I just have a cool job. Anyway, I'm glad you understand that it's not just copying."

Sirius grinned mischievously, "So, are you filthy rich now? Do you take baths in money? Live in a mansion?"

"Well, yes to the filthy rich, I have more money than I know what to do with. No, to the baths and no to the mansion. But I do live in a double-tall, ridiculously large penthouse! I have a whole room of books; a _massive_ art studio; a dark room for my personal hobby of photography (magic and not); a secret potions lab that Severus would die for, it's where I make my paint, that shit is _hard_, it requires a combination of actual paint, various potions of my own creation and a plethora of charms. I also use it to make my more ordinary potions like wolfsbane and veritaserum. I've got a gourmet kitchen where I make all the wizarding food I miss, there's even a small home brewery where I play with beer, butter and not. The guest room is in toned down Gryffindor colours because some guests might be a bit put-off by all the red. And finally, the _best bedroom of all time!_ Think Gryffindor common room but with a massive bed. The fire is connected to the floo, but only to and from that blasted cottage of mine. I can still get calls though, but – and I think this is ingenious – I have the fire charmed to always show me looking like crappy Remus in that cottage!"

Sirius stared at his last true friend, he knew next to _nothing_ about him. Remus Lupin was, well, living the life he deserved, and _no one_ knew. "Hang on, how do you look so good? Not to be mean or anything but you always looked run down and sickly at school, and even after you never really looked healthy."

"Wow, way to be blunt Padfoot. But if you have to know, I can't go around looking like this in the wizarding world, I mean really? A rich werewolf? That just doesn't happen. So, I wear old robes and um...put the scars back on my face, in a manner of speaking." Remus said, blushing.

"You WHAT?"

"I use Muggle make up to make my self look how people think I should look. You know, bags under the eyes, cuts and scrapes, the hard part are the scars, I have a friend in the movie and theatre business, he showed me how to use this putty to create scars– " Sirius interrupted.

"Yeah, about those scars. Where did they go? I thought Madam Pomfry said they couldn't be removed."

Remus sighed. "Yeah, they were wolf scars, they're not supposed to be able to be healed _but_ that's only because no one took the time to try and alter the potions or healing charms. And no werewolf had the money to do the research themselves. Then I came along, and I fixed myself."

"Oh come on Moony, you didn't need to be fixed." Sirius tried to assure him.

"No, you don't get it Sirius, you can't walk around with a face all scarred up like that. I spent the first year out of school putting the make up on to _cover _the scars until I realised that there must be a way to cure them, I mean, it's _magic_ for crying out loud. So I spent the next year working on different salves, potions, charms, anything really. I ended up with something I don't think has been done before, I brewed an altered scar removal cream in a rune-inscribed silver cauldron – now _that_ was difficult to do. It took a while, several melted cauldrons, shit tons of money and many silver burns but I finally got it to work, I'm scar free." He adopted an official introduction pose, "Hi, my name is Remus Lupin and I've been scar-free for seven years."

"Moony my friend, you are amazing."

Remus gave a mock bow from his seat, "Why thank you Sir. Padfoot, the sentiment is returned." Then he burst out laughing, "Sirius, look at us, you're a criminal sentenced to a life of hell on earth, I'm a werewolf, outcast of the wizarding world and we're both working for, or with, the Muggle Mafia!"

"I believe that we are the epitome of Marauders, really, we are playing life like a fiddle, James would be so proud." Sirius said, amazed that they had both basically pranked the whole world.

"Yeah, and Lily would kill us." Remus said with a laugh. Then they hugged it out and returned to Sal and Nio.

"So, I'm guessing you worked it all out." Sal said when he saw both man's grins. The fact that they weren't dead or maimed also helped convince him that things were okay between them.

Sirius slung his arm around Remus. "Yes, yes we did."

"Good." Nio said. "Now I have two sources of information on the wizarding world.

* * *

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was sitting as his desk, popping lemon drops and drinking tea when a wall of solid magic rushed through the school. He dropped his cup and raced over to a table with a bunch of random silver spinning things, looked at it for a minute and swore. Because hadn't fixed the anomaly locater, he wouldn't be able to figure out where that monumental magic had come from! There were only a few things that could have caused it, a group ritual (which were extremely illegal), wards the size of Hogwarts or the Ministry falling (which would show up on another one of his little spinny things) or the implosion of a magical core. He knew it wasn't falling wards and the only records of those rituals was in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries, this meant that it was someone's magical core. The only way a magical core could _implode_ was if that person was a fully trained witch or wizard who had basically been in love with magic and then suddenly, on a whim, hated it with every fibre of their being. They would also have needed to know how to access their core because they would have to squeeze it into nothingness. Dumbledore collapsed into his chair, the world had lost a valuable asset today, someone that in tune with their magic would have been a wonderful person to have around.

He could never have been more wrong, the unleashing of an extremely powerful wizard's full potential, created a bigger wave of magic than any of his three explanations. If he hadn't been so sad about the loss of an 'asset' he would have noticed that four little lights had faded away from one section of a massive board in one of his cupboards. The board kept track of any and all binds that had been placed on current or future Hogwarts students This was important information to know because binds needed to be taken off at certain ages so that they could learn to control their gifts properly.

Dumbledore had no idea that his little tool had just broken through his chains.

* * *

Author's note: Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews! I hope you liked the chapter, I can't decide if I'm going to work on Moony's Story more, or on the next part of the main story...maybe you could let me know which you'd prefer.


	7. Revelations

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Seven - Revelations**

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Disclaimer: Harry Potter = NOT MINE.

Author's note: I am not planning on turning this into a super-Harry story, this will be a Harry-uses-magic-differently story. That's all I'll say for now, I just wanted to get it out there. Enjoy!

* * *

It didn't take long for the Diadones to decide that stories, question/answer sessions and demonstrations can only go so far when teaching someone about the magical world. Sirius had first found out about Nio's magic the February after his ninth birthday, Remus (as John Doe), had joined in March, John Doe hadn't played as large a role in Nio's magic education, only visiting a few times. Between the two wizards, Nio and Sal learned a lot about the magical world but by the beginning of May, Nio and Sal were ready for more.

They wanted to experience the world of magic for themselves, they wanted a trip to Diagon Alley. Sirius _really_ didn't like this idea, mostly due to the fact that he was a _criminal,_ even if he hadn't been guilty before, he was now. Sticking someone else in Azkaban instead of yourself isn't exactly legal. He had kept his trips to the Alley as short as possible and had always headed straight for Knockturn. But Nio and Sal were persistent, so they went. Sirius did insist on giving them all a glamour, there was no way they would go unnoticed, especially Sal and Nio. Nio was tall for his age and Sal towered over most people - Sirius and a few of the other guards excluded - and both Diadones had rather tan skin and jet black hair. Blending in was _not_ something they were good at; stealth? Yes. Hiding in plain sight? No. So that is how a young, scrawny blond boy, his slightly pudgy father and his favourite pot-bellied uncle came to explore Diagon Alley. The first thing on Sal's list - which Sirius would have edited had he known it existed - was to open an account at the bank. If his son was going to be in this world, then he would make sure he was _completely_ in, none of this exchanging money every time you wanted to buy something. He also planned on investing in this community, magic or not, there was always money to be made. As soon as they stepped into the bank, things got very interesting.

The goblin at the counter that they approached took one look at them, saw right through their glamours in that unnerving way goblins do, and addressed them properly.

"Lord Black, Mr. Potter." The goblin said politely, after all, it wouldn't do to upset two of your wealthiest clients. "What can I help you with today?"

It only took a split second for Sirius to process the goblin's first statement and when he did, he went sheet-white and nearly fainted. "Sir?" He asked the goblin breathlessly, "Could we perhaps have a private room? And please send my account manager in in an hour or so." Much to Nio and Sal's confusion Sirius was gripping the counter in an attempt to stay vertical. They didn't say anything though because he gestured rather frantically for them to follow the goblin. As soon as he stepped into the room, Sirius fell into the nearest chair and buried his head in his hands.

Nio and Sal exchanged a look, first, how did the goblin know who they were, and second, why did they call Evan a 'Lord'? They both knew his old name was Sirius Black but Lord? That was new.

After a few moments Sirius raised his head. "Did that goblin say what I think he said?" He asked.

"You mean calling you a lord? Cause yeah, he did. And that's awesome but the way." Nio said with a grin.

That grin ripped at Sirius' heart, now that he was looking for it, he could see that it was James' smile. And the way his skin crinkled just a tiny bit around those brilliant green eyes just screamed Lily.

"No." Sirius said, "Before that, did he really say 'Potter'?"

Comprehension dawned on Sal's face, Evan must know who the Potters are. Or rather, _Sirius_ must have known who the Potters _were._ "Yes." He said. "That was Nio's birth name, Harry James Potter."

Sirius prided himself on having a very strong disposition and an infinite ability to handle surprises, that was one of the reasons he survived Azkaban and also why he was such a good bodyguard, but this was just too much and for the first time in his life, Sirius Orion Black fainted.

"Oh my god, I think we broke him." Nio said. Then he started slapping Evan's cheek in an attempt to bring him back to the land of the living.

Sirius opened one eyelid and then the next, just in time to see Lily's eyes staring back down at him. "Fucking Merlin's pink pantyhose, I didn't imagine it." He said, with a groan as he sat up.

Sal frowned at both Evan's unique swearing and his overall reaction. "I'll take it that you know who Nio is?"

"Know him? Of course I know him, he's my Godson! Not to mention he's the mother fucking BOY-WHO-LIVED! Holy shit, how did I not figure this out before? I've been telling you all about our little Prongslet for months! Mini James, baby green eyes, pup, cub, mop head...oh." He realised where they'd gone wrong, "But I never actually called him Harry did I?"

Nio and Sal both shook their heads. "No." Nio said, "You forgot to mention that particular detail."

Sirius rubbed his face, "Why must my life be so complicated? You know the reason I was in prison? Well, the people I supposedly betrayed were two of my best friends, Lily and James _**Potter**_**,** the boy they accused me of orphaning was _**Harry **__**Potter**_**.**" Nio and Sal gaped, the world was a hell of a lot smaller than they originally thought, and they already thought it was pretty small. Then Sirius frowned, "Hold on, you said you rescued Nio from an _abusive_ situation, how did he get there in the first place? Dumbledore said he was hidden, that he was safe! I mean, I knew he was hidden, I couldn't find him when I looked, but _safe_? He wasn't safe, he was abused! Oh, that fucking twinkly-eyed, orange-robed, pointy-hat-wearing, lying, ass hole has a shit ton of stuff to answer for! Especially since he hasn't even noticed Harry's missing yet! I mean, it would have been all over the Prophet if he had, there'd be a _man hunt_!"

Nio, who was nowhere near coming to grips with the whole Godfather, missing person, man hunt, hidden, safe, Potters etc. thing, focused on something a bit more straightforward. "What does a prophet have to do with anything?"

Sirius was so used to answering questions about the Wizarding World answered automatically, "The Daily Prophet is the newspaper, I get it delivered by Muggle mail to a P.O. Box. I told them P.O. stands for 'Prophet Only', they're so ignorant of the Muggle World that they don't even question it. Quite amusing really." After finishing this, Sirius found that he was a bit calmer and not in danger of passing out or blowing up again. Then he grinned, "You know, since I was never convicted, Gringotts will have kept all my stuff _and_ magic itself will honour the guardianship as stated in the Potter's will. Technically speaking, I'm still your magical guardian!"

Nio frowned and Sal scowled, "Are you telling me that in your world, my son belongs TO YOU?"

"No!" Sirius said quickly, not wanting to get on the wrong side of Sal. "I said _magical_ guardian." Because you legally adopted him - destruction of evidence non-withstanding - you're still his, well, 'real' guardian, I guess, But in the magical world, every child has to have a witch or wizard responsible for them. By default, unless someone else has a _claim,_ the student goes to the ass face known as Dumbledore. But _I'm_ your's!"

It took a minute for Nio and Sal to catch up with what Sirius was saying, it was Nio who figured it out first. "That's BRILLIANT! From what I've heard of Dumbledore over the last few months is that he's really powerful, well-liked and extremely respected. Now we find out that he's either irresponsible, a liar or both. He's a two-faced man. He doesn't sound like someone I'd want to have any say in my life."

Then Sal caught on as well, "That's great, he won't have any control over my son, other than as a headmaster to student. Instead, someone I _trust_ does. Not to mention that I can keep my eye on you."

"Hold on," Sirius said with a frown. "Dumbledore won't know that Nio is Harry, and _Nio_ is Muggleborn, all Muggleborns go directly to the headmaster...and it wouldn't matter if it's me cause I'm supposedly in prison... Fuck, this is confusing. Magically, we're all set, but technically..."

They all frowned then Nio spoke up, "We still have a few years to figure this out, right? I don't start school till I'm 11, why don't we think on it for a while?"

The adults agreed and all made a mental note to address the problem later.

By this time, the hour was up and a surly looking goblin barged into the room. "Lord Black, I would be extremely interested to know how you managed to get here. I happen to have it on very good authority that your cell in Azkaban is still occupied by someone who looks exactly like you." Then the goblin showed every single one of his perfectly pointed teeth. "I have to say, I'm extremely impressed."

"Oh, I kinda broke out a few years ago. That place and I didn't really get along." Sirius said with a grin.

The three humans were then treated to a show that not many outside the goblin nation had ever seen, a laughing goblin. "My respect for you, Lord Black, has grown tenfold, I am honoured to be in charge of your vast estate."

"How is my estate by the way?" Sirius asked, wondering if anyone had tried to claim it during his incarceration and subsequent assumed incarceration.

"One Narcissa Malfoy, nee Black tried to claim it on behalf of her son, the next eligible heir in the Black family. But as you were never convicted, her request was promptly denied."

"Oh I would have loved to see Cissa's face! She would _not_ have been pleased to find out that she couldn't lay a hand on all that lovely gold, or silver, or even a single bronze knut!" Sirius said with a wide grin.

Nio and Sal watched this byplay with thinly veiled amusement, it was obvious that Evan wasn't too fond of this Narcissa woman and was therefore quite pleased to hear of her inconveniences.

"Oh, hey." Sirius said, remembering the actual reason for their visit. "What's the status of the Potter vault? Nio here, well, actually he's Harry, only just found out about it. In fact, _I_ only just found out about him being Harry Potter, as you can probably guess, we're a bit behind the times."

The goblin shuffled a few papers around, barked a few orders in Gobbledegook, and was soon holding a medium sized folder. He then pulled out a small piece of paper that had been carefully placed in the folder. "I have here a note which suggests that before we do anything concerning the this account we should bring in Samantha Charleston, Rebecca Charleston and Minerva McGonagall."

Sal and Nio's heads snapped up at Sam's name, everyone looked confused about Becca, and Sirius nearly had a heart attack when he heard McGonagall's.

"What?" Sirius yelled, "McGonagall? As in **Professor** **McGonagall**?"

The goblin scowled, "Yes, Professor McGonagall, there is only one Minerva McGonagall we know of. Now, would you like to get them here or proceed without them? After all, it is only a suggestion."

Sal frowned, there was a lot going on here that he didn't understand, and he absolutely _abhorred_ that sort of situation. He had thought that Evan had explained everything about this magic world and he had been very pleased with the extent of said explanation. Now, they were _all_ finding out that there was a lot more to this whole thing than any of them thought. "Yes." He said. "As long as they're not busy please bring them, on second thought, bring them anyway. If Nio here is as important as we think, they should be able to drop whatever they are doing to talk with us."

* * *

When Minerva got an urgent Goblin summons she was infinitely glad that it was a Thursday, she only had one class on Thursdays and it had just let out. This is because when you get an _urgent_ goblin summons, you respond immediately, you don't wait for class to finish, you don't make sure you look presentable, you don't grab a bite to eat, no, you just _go_. Right then. So that's why first years Fred and George Weasley - who had decided class didn't _really_ start at ten, people just liked to say that - were nearly trampled by their transfiguration teacher who was nearly flying down the hall. Their only response was, "Wicked!"

Becca was walking back from a coffee break when she received the summons, and she knew that under no circumstance was it acceptable to ignore such a summons, so she abandoned her cup in the air - where it quickly made friends with the floor - and raced back to the elevator.

Sam grinned as she looked over her new case, this guy was so going _down_! It was so easy it was almost pathetic. The papers were immediately forgotten when a goblin appeared in her office, ordered her to grab her bag and promptly dragged her off to Gringotts.

* * *

Sam barely had time to register where she was when her sister apparated right next to her, nearly causing them to crash to the floor. "What is-" Sam started to ask, but was interrupted when Minerva popped in nearly on top of them - it should be noted that she landed a bit more gracefully than either of the sisters. All three women looked extremely flustered, but as soon as it connected in their head _who_ they were with, it clicked.

"It's him." Minerva said simply, before she had time to expand on that thought, they were ushered into a private meeting room where they saw a goblin, a tall, imposing man, a boy whose identity was easily guessed and a man who looked vaguely familiar but not quite placeable.

"Ladies." The goblin said. "Welcome. Let me introduce my companions, Salvator Diadone and his son Antonio, and their personal advisor and bodyguard, Evan White. You may also know Antonio and Evan as Harry Potter and Sirius Black, respectively."

There was a split second of silence which was soon broken by Minerva. "SIRIUS BLACK? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN _**PRISON**_!

Sirius gave a small wave and smiled sheepishly, "Hey professor, fancy seeing you here."

Minerva looked like she was about to jump at him and kill him with her bare hands, but was stopped by Sam, who forcefully laid a hand on her shoulder. "Minerva, calm down. I can explain everything."

The attention shifted to Sam who just shrugged and said, "Hey, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the entire world who knows exactly what's going on here." Everyone just stared at her. "Okay, lets see; I know Nio is Harry, I _was_ the one who created and destroyed large amounts of paperwork; I know about the Potters, Voldemort, and the boy-who-lived; I know about Nio's magic; I know about Evan's magic; and I also know about Sirius' innocence. Did I leave anything out? Oh, and I know about Wormtail and Padfoot. Yup, that's it." The entire room looked at her in awe, how did a Squib, Muggle lawyer know more than the rest of them?

Then, to the complete astonishment of everyone in the room, Nio started laughing. "Oh my god! Your faces! I totally wish I had a camera right now!"

Sirius snapped out of it and grinned, "Remind me to introduce you to a pensive."

This broke the tension in the room and Minerva conjured a collection of comfy chairs. "Okay." She said once she settled into a chair. "I believe it is story time. Starting with _you_." She said, rather louder than necessary, pointing at Sirius who flinched. "_You_ have a lot of explaining to do. And I want veriteserum and oaths all around."

So, potions were administered, oaths were made (by those who could) and the complete truth of Harry James Potter, Antonio Dominick Diadone, Sirius Orion Black and Evan White's lives were brought to light for the first time. By the time each person had told their part of the story, the seven of them had finished six pots of tea, eaten two and a half meals and the bank had been closed for hours. They never even got around to discussing Sirius' 'Lord' status and Nio's Potter vault.

Nio yawned, "Well, this is all very interesting but Evan, my dad and I really should be getting home. Ms. Minerva, as a professor I'm sure you have classes in the morning; Ms. Becca, as a, whatever you are, I'm sure you have stuff to do tomorrow; Sam, if I remember correctly, you have to be in court at eight and Dad, I _know_ you have a "meeting" bright and early. Evan, you, Vince, Sensei and I have a date with some swords at six. So, I recommend bed for everyone."

If anyone was surprised by the fact that a nine and a half year old could remember all that, they didn't show it. Instead, they all made plans to meet up again nice and early Saturday morning. Sirius, Sal and Nio also scheduled a meeting with their still very amused goblin account managers, for the next afternoon. They would be going over guardianship and vaults etc. All in all, it was a very productive and enlightening day, except for Sam who, true to her word, already knew it all.

* * *

Sirius lay in his bed that night, knowing that Harry Potter, his godson was actually Antonio Diadone, his favourite nine year old, his charge, his student, his teacher, his 'little protégé', the son of his boss and an up and coming crime lord. It actually made perfect sense, in a twisted sort of way, the kid that had been one of the most important people in his life _before_ Azkaban was the same kid who had become one of the most important people in his life _after_ Azkaban; irony at it's finest. _Well,_ He thought,_ At least I know he's a good kid, well, as good as the son of a Mafia Lord can be. And he knows me. I've been able to be a part of his life, even if I didn't know it at the time...How the hell did I not figure it out? It's so obvious! Green eyes, black hair, bad eyesight, MAGIC! But then, everyone knows (well, thought) that he was actually Sal's kid. And I wasn't looking for Harry, I thought I knew that he was hidden in a safe spot, which _wouldn't_ be here._ He wanted to smack his head against the wall but the guys kept joking that he really shouldn't damage the few braincells he had whenever he got the urge to do that. (Then the girls would tell him not to ruin his 'pretty little head'.) _Arg! How did I not know? Merlin, James is probably laughing his head off at me, I'm an oblivious idiot. Then again, he likes me, I like him...could be worse. He could still be with Petunia._ Sirius really hoped that this whole godfather out of the blue wouldn't hurt his relationship with Nio, he really liked spending time with the kid, everyone did. But ever since the magic aura discovery he had become like an older brother - everyone in the house had a different relationship with Nio, brother, sister, mum, dad (this was reserved for Sal), friend or teacher. No one was aunt, uncle or cousin...those words were taboo. Sirius really liked his big brother role, he didn't want to ruin it. Sirius had taught him many of the wonders of magic, he told him all about the Wizarding World, he had made sure Nio knew everything a kid raised in that world would know and take for granted. _But it was Harry all along._ Sirius thought, _Never in a million years did I think __**I**__ would be the one to teach Harry about our world. And especially not in the language I used. Holy Merlin's pink glittery skirt, James is going to kill me, he's going to fucking bash my head in with a beater's bat. But how was I supposed to know the foul-mouthed nine year old mafia kid was Harry? I mean, it's not like I'm solely responsible for his colourful vocabulary._ Then another voice popped up in his head, _Yeah, but you taught him how to create inventive wizard swears...shit. Well, my afterlife is screwed. Oh! Maybe I'll get points for introducing him to pranking, wizard style._

* * *

Sal and Nio sat silently in the kitchen drinking their hot chocolate - not that either would admit it now - trying to process all that they had learned that day; Evan/Sirius was Nio's godfather, Sam had known everything for years, Nio was famous, Evan/Sirius was a Lord and a man called Dumbledore was either very stupid (unlikely) or a manipulative bastard, Sam had a witch sister and Evan wasn't actually the unflappable tough guy they all thought he was. And the goblins thought the whole thing was hilarious.

Nio sighed, "What does all this _mean_?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out, Nio. I think I'm just as confused as you right now. And I'm pretty sure Evan is too."

"Oh."

* * *

As Nio lay in bed there was one word that just wouldn't leave him alone; "godfather". Nio had a godfather, someone his birth parents had chosen to take care of him, to be a part of his life. And without knowing it, his godfather had been teaching him for years and, more recently, teaching him about the world he born into. He really didn't know what to make of it, would Evan treat him any differently now that they were pseudo-related? Would he want to step into his life as a type of father? Cause that would just be strange, Evan was like his big brother. No, Evan wouldn't do that, he was cool, too cool to go all weird on him. With that thought in mind, Nio finally drifted off to sleep, at three in the morning.

At seven sharp, Nio and Evan's swords crashed together, the two of them hadn't even said good morning, they had a mutual understanding that they needed to do something _normal_ before they addressed the evil, awkward situation. Right beside them, having absolutely no clue what was going on, Sensei and Vince were also attacking each other with sharp pointy objects. But when Nio and Evan dropped their curved long swords at the same time and each grabbed their double cross swords, Vince and Sensei stopped and watched, Evan and Nio were really good with the double swords and they seemed to be a bit more hyped up this morning. The fight was going to be worth watching. Nio and Evan performed a deadly dance, Evan swinging his two swords around in long graceful archs and Nio ducking, spinning and sweeping both his with equal grace. They attacked and parried in perfect unison. Neither Vince nor Sensei had ever seen such a beautiful display of talent, by either of them before; they worked together flawlessly. Then something new happened.

Now, Vince and Kimiko knew that Nio - and Evan at times - could charge their swords with magic, it would ruin the sword but it was worth it, both for the display and the extra _something_ it added to the fight. This was one of the reasons they used a private practice room. But the two of them hadn't tried putting magic into one of their double sword fights, they were worried that it might get out of control with four magically enhanced weapons flying around. However, as Vince and Kimiko watched in awe, a blue shimmer started running up and down Evan's sword and the same thing on Nio's, except his was white. Then, the shimmer took over the whole sword and it started to look like a cross between water and fire, the actual sword didn't really seem to exist anymore. Soon, the two of them had poured enough magical energy into their swords that the magic started trailing behind each swing, a shadow of where the weapon had been only moments before. This had never happened before, but the fight didn't stop, if anything, it became more intense. The swords whipped through the air together and every time they connected, a burst of magic flowed away and started whipping around them. The magic then reached out from where they were fighting and started filling the room with swirls and loops. If Sal hadn't forbidden it, Kimiko and Vince would have been taking pictures, with a _non-digital_ camera that had an _extremely_ high shutter speed. Finally, as if on cue, Nio and Evan stopped and bowed. The magic in the room rushed back to it's owners and their swords crumbled. The two of them stood there in silence for a moment before Nio decided to break it.

"Hey." Nio said, not breaking eye contact with Evan.

"Hi." Sirius responded with a slight smile.

Then Nio grinned, "That was fucking _awesome_!"

Sirius laughed and everything went back to normal, for them.

"Um, care to tell us what's going on?" Vince asked, "I feel like we're missing out on something and it's not just the magic." It was times like these that he really wished he had magic, that fight was absolutely amazing.

"Oh." Sirius said. "We, um, found out yesterday that I'm actually Nio's long lost godfather." There was silence.

"And apparently he's a Lord and I'm _famous!_" Nio added excitedly.

Vince's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Maybe we should start at the beginning." Sirius suggested. "Over breakfast?"

* * *

Nio and Sirius explained who they had found out the day before, everything from Sirius being 'Lord Black' (that took some explaining because Kimiko and Vince only knew him at Evan) to Nio being The-Boy-Who-Lived. Then Sal came in and authenticated the whole thing, after which they headed back to Gringotts to pick up where they left off, mainly the Potter vault.

When they met up with the goblins, they learned that Harry Potter was also a lord, Sirius hadn't known that the Potters had that distinction because neither James nor his father claimed the lordship, they both thought that political power was something that should be earned, not gifted. They also had an ancestral home which they didn't use for similar reasons. Nio, on the other hand, had no qualms about taking advantage of his ancestor's wealth and prosperity. He was extremely interested in the Potter's legacy, especially after he found out how much money he had. One of his ancestors had made a few extremely profitable investments and because the Potters weren't big spenders, the money just grew and grew.

To put it in perspective, if Nio liquidated the whole Potter Estate (but not the ancestral home because for some reason it's against the law), he would be able to buy out the entire mafia and all connected organisations. That officially made Nio Diadone the richest kid in England. When he came into his mafia inheritance, he would probably be on the top ten list of richest people in the world.

"Damn." Nio said. "That's a shit ton of money."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, "Even my family doesn't have that much, never has. I had no idea the Potters were, well, so goddamn rich! I don't think James knew about this, maybe there just wasn't a good time for his dad to explain it all before his parents were, um, before they died. James always took his money out of the trust vault." Sirius shook his head and grinned stupidly, "That's a _lot_ of money."

Sal just smirked, "Nio my boy, you will do great things." Everyone else in the room couldn't help but agree.

The goblin grinned, showing every single one of his pointy teeth. "Would you like to see your vault?" He had always been proud to manage the Potter's extensive accounts and had been very disappointed when he wasn't needed, he hadn't been able to do anything interesting for nearly 40 years. Now it looked like things were going to get _very_ interesting, he was excited.

"_Yes!"_ Nio almost yelled, from what he could gather, there should be heaps, no, _mountains_, of gold in there, not to mention the piles of really cool stuff!

"Okay, since you obviously don't have your key – we'll have to find that, by the way – I'll just need you to prove you are who you say you are. I'm certain you are Harry Potter, but us goblins have never been wrong about a person's identity before and we'd like to keep it that way. Just take this quill and write your name and the numbers of the vaults you want to claim. The quill is specially designed so that you cannot write a lie with it. Your vault should be number 21, you also have a trust vault, number 135. Because you're the last of the Potters, and both your legal and magical guardians are with you, you can go to both. Just write your full name, and then the vault number."

So Nio wrote _'Harry James Potter, vault 21 and 135,'_ The ink flashed purple and two keys materialized in the goblin's hand which he then handed to Nio.

Sirius turned to the goblin, "I'd like to get to my vault as well, would you mind if I did that too?" There weren't any problems so a few minutes later, the three of them were racing down to vault 21."

True to Nio's guess, the vault was packed _full_ of gold. There was a small amount of silver and bronze, but the majority was gold, piles and piles of gold. There were also a collection of artifacts around the edges and what immediately drew Nio's attention was the cabinet of weapons.

After a few minutes of deliberation (15) Nio picked out two swords that were obviously made for either a very small person or a child and a set of double swords. He could feel the magic running through them and hoped that the next time he and Evan sparred magically, the swords would be usable after. He was going to grab a lot more stuff until Evan reminded him that they could come back any time. The goblin kindly told them that even though his guardians were here, he had to wait until he was 17 to take money from the family vault, so after a walk to the Black vault where Sirius filled a bag with gold and also grabbed a few swords, they headed to Nio's trust vault. Ironically, the two sets of swords seemed to go together. They were the exact same size and style, the only difference was the decoration; Nio's had gold inlaid patterns and Sirius' had silver. In fact, when they took a second look, they realised that the two sets were exactly that, a set. The whole group wondered how one of the sets ended up in one of the most historically 'light' families and the other in a historically 'dark' one. With a shrug they decided that with everything else going on that particular coincidence could wait. Sirius shrunk the swords and stuck them in his pocket.

Just as the blond-haired, blue-eyed father, son and uncle stepped out of the bank, Sirius remembered that there was someone else who needed to be here.

"Hey Sal?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah?"

"I would like to call Remus, I mean, John Doe. He was James' and my other best friend, the one who wanted to kill me in your office a while ago. Would you mind if I asked him here for lunch? I think he'd really like to see Nio as Harry." Sirius asked, he figured that they would be wanting lunch soon, especially after the whole mess they'd uncovered at the bank.

Sal turned to his son, "Nio? The choice is your's, this is _your_ world, after all."

The nine year old thought about it, he had already come to grips with the whole 'I have a godfather' thing and had already been shocked out of his mind with the money and Lord thing, so he figured that adding another bit of his new/old life really couldn't do any harm. "Sure, why not? I mean, I just got thrown in the deep end, he will either end up being a small splash or join Evan as a life preserver. Anyway, the more the merrier, right?"

Sirius sighed a breath of relief, Remus would never forgive him if he didn't tell him about Nio/Harry and he _really_ didn't want to be stuck in this without backup. And you couldn't get any better than Remus for help. "Okay, as you know from our use of it around the manor, magic and electronics don't exactly get along. I'll show you to the bookstore and then head out the the street, I'll reserve a room with Tom on the way back."

"Sounds good to me. Will we be safe in the bookstore?" Sal asked.

"Yeah, I'll get you to a less-busy section and then put a ward around it that will convince people to go look at other stuff."

Nio grinned, "Cool!"

For all intents and purposes, Sirius barricaded Sal and Nio in the History of Magic (the interesting kind, not goblin rebellions) section and headed for Muggle London. He dialed Remus' cell number which, until a few months ago, Sirius didn't even know existed.

Remus' gravely voice answered the phone, "John Doe, how did you get this number and why the bloody hell are you blocking yours?"

"Oh hey, Remus. Sorry about blocking the number, force of habit."

"Sirius?"

"Yeah dumbo, who else calls 'John Doe' and says 'Hey Remus'?"

"You know, I don't think I'm ever going to get over the fact that Sirius Black knows how to use a cell phone." Remus said with a laugh.

"Very funny Wolfie, but I'm actually being serious here."

"Wow, no Sirius/serious joke, must be important. What's up?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "How soon can you get to the Leakey Cauldron?"

"Um, I have an appointment in ten minutes that finishes at half past 12, I can cancel if it's important." Remus answered.

"I love that you a) have an appointment and b) the ability to just cancel it on short notice. Must be nice to be you." Then Sirius realised what he had said. "Oh, I mean, um...it's cool that you're so good at your job and respected and in demand that you can do what you want and people don't question you. Sorry, I'll shut up now."

Remus laughed, "Sirius, it's fine. It _is_ nice to be me, I have a good life. You should stop thinking of me as poor old Moony and think of me as rich, powerful Remus with a disobedient rabbit. I'm only poor old Moony to a minority of England's population. Now, do you need me to get there now or can it wait till one?"

Sirius grinned, he still couldn't get over the fact that Remus, the prefect who followed the rules (most of the time), the werewolf shunned by the wizarding world, the man with patched robes and bags under his eyes, was actually John Doe, the best forger in Europe, working with the Mafia and other dubious organisations, the rich man who lived in a penthouse and wore Armani suits. Remus was John who put on Muggle make-up (Sirius still laughed his head off at this) to make himself look ill (glamours last all of two seconds on a werewolf).

"Go to your meeting thingy oh great and mighty criminal. How long do you need to get um..." Sirius stifled a laugh. "To get ready?"

Remus huffed. "Shut up or I'll make you Moony's new best friend."

"Right, shutting up."

"Anyway, I have my art down to a, well, an art. If the appointment is over when it's supposed to be - and I'll make sure it is - I can be there by quarter to one."

"Wow, 15 minutes to change and paint your face. Impressive. Okay, yeah, just tell Tom you're meeting with the Smiths." Sirius said, still trying not to laugh at the fact that Remus wore make up, and had been wearing it for nearly fifteen years.

"Smiths?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow which could be heard through the phone.

"Well, I can't exactly make a reservation under the name 'Black', can I? And Sal would kill me if I used his name, not to mention Nio, he'd probably stick me with his new sword!"

"You, Sal, Nio, Diagon Alley and new swords? That sounds interesting and I'm not sure I want to know. Anyway, I gotta go. See you at 12:45. Bye!"

"See ya." Sirius said as he hung up. Then he hurried back to Florish and Blotts after a quick chat with Tom about a private room for the Smiths.

By the time Evan got back to the store, Nio was _really_ tired of the history section, Sal was having a great time but Nio was beyond bored. "Oh thank god you're back! This place is driving me fucking crazy!"

"Woah, hold it Nio." Sirius said as he took down the ward. "I'll have you know that that was one of the shortest conversations I've ever had with John." Sirius always referred to Remus as John when they were in public because every now and then you get a smart wizard who had the ability to put two and two together and get four, even if one of the twos was in disguise.

"Yeah, well, I don't care. History of magic is probably the _worst_ section you could have trapped us in, this shit is boring!" Nio said with a scowl.

Sirius grinned. "Okay, I have to agree with you on the boring part, but believe me when I say that the class is worse. The only reason I left you there was because it's the least visited part of the store."

"I wonder why." Nio grumbled sarcastically. Then he headed to the charms section quickly followed by hexes. This made Sirius grin.

_Ah, hexes._ Sirius thought._ I've taught him well._

Sal walked up to Sirius and handed him four rather large books. "Hold these will ya? I'm going to look around some more."

Sirius groaned, he forgot just how much Sal loved books. He sighed and grabbed a bottomless, weightless basket to carry his boss' books.

"Sal." Sirius called down the potions aisle, "We have to be out of here by quarter till!" Then he realised why Sal had chosen that section; you don't need magic to make most of the simpler potions. _Ah shit! I'm going to end up teaching Salvator Diadone potion making. What have I done? The world will never forgive me._ Sirius lamented to himself.

By the time Sirius had managed to get Sal and Nio out of the shop they had nearly 30 books, Sirius had two. _It's a damn good thing wizards can shrink things._ He grumbled and they walked to the Leaky Cauldron, 15 minutes late. They walked up to the counter, "Hey, I reserved a room for Smith, there should be a guy already there." Sirius said, really annoyed that they were late. There was only one thing Sirius liked being late for; class.

Tom smiled at them, "Ah yes, room four. Mr. Lupin is already there."

"Thanks." Sirius said, _still_ grumpy. When they walked in, Remus was lounging in a chair with his feet on the table and a cup of tea.

Remus put the cup down and stood up. "Mr. Smith, I'm surprised, you're only ever late for class." He said with a grin. Neither Sirius nor Remus seemed fazed by the fact that Remus looked as dilapidated as he did, this was his look for the wizarding world; faded and patched robes, fraying around the edges, scuffed shoes, slightly messy hair and most of all, a tired, drawn out, scarred face.

"Oh my god!" Nio yelled when he saw Remus, "What the hell happened to you?"

Sal smacked Nio up the backside of the head, "Antonio Dominick, you watch your mouth!"

Remus' eyes widened, he'd never heard Sal raise his voice before, especially not at his son. And telling Nio to 'watch his mouth'? Everyone knew that Nio had the foulest mouth of any kid around. Sirius, on the other hand, just stood there; it was common knowledge, to those in the mansion at least, that while Nio was allowed to swear and be rude as much as he liked around those he knew well (his father included) he was _never_ allowed to swear, be rude or raise his voice to anyone else.

Nio dropped his head, "Sorry, father, I'll try not to do let it happen again." Most kids would have said 'promise', but Nio had been taught to only ever make promises he could keep, and this wasn't one.

"Good, however, I would like to reiterate the question in a more appropriate manner. Remus, is everything alright? You're looking a bit off today."

Remus smiled, he knew he'd have to explain this someday, especially now that Sal knew he was a wizard. "Well, I don't usually tell this to people, but I know you're an open-minded man and I know you won't make a snap judgment. You also know that I'm by far the best at what I do, and I can tell you now, I'm not the only wizard in the forgery business, I'm just the best."

This made Sal think for a moment, he hadn't considered that it might take _skill_ and magic to make a good forgery, but it did make sense. He also realised that whatever John/Remus was going to tell him must be pretty big if he was reminding Sal of his usefulness. "Okay, I see where you're coming from and understand what you're saying. I will give you the benefit of the doubt. So, what is this big secret?"

"I'm a werewolf." Remus stated simply. Nio gasped, Sirius sighed and Sal's eyebrows developed a life of their own.

"Really?" Sal asked, then he paused for a moment, "I don't see how that makes you look like you've been through hell and back without changing your clothes."

Remus looked infinitely relieved, in all his years working in the Muggle world, he'd never had to reveal his condition and now, the one person he did tell, hadn't upped and shot him. Which this one could have done with any of his six or seven guns hidden in various places on his person.

"Well, in the wizarding world, werewolves aren't considered truly human, we are often referred to as 'dark creatures' and ostracized from the community. It is extremely hard to find a well-paying job, or any job. When I come into this world, I'm expected to look like this because it would be impossible for me to have anywhere near as lucrative a job as the one I do. To those who know me in this world, I'm almost always 'between jobs'. They all believe that I don't have the money to buy the potion that allows me to keep my mind every month so they assume I lock myself away and have a painful, tiring night. That's not true because I have plenty of money for the ingredients to make it myself, and have even improved it dramatically. I would just come in wearing a glamour like you guys did, but werewolves are very resistant to any sort of physical transfiguration. Not to mention the fact that it's illegal for us to try to change our appearance. So, um, yeah. Any questions?"

"Do you get burnt by silver?" Nio asked.

Remus could have laughed at the fact that _this_ was what Nio was interested in. Not, 'Do you kill people?' or 'Do you get really long fangs?' or 'How did you become a werewolf?' No, Nio wanted to know about the silver. "Yes, silver is rather painful. Actually, scratch that, silver hurts like a bitch."

Nio frowned, "But what about the silver coins? Aren't they real silver?"

"Yeah, that's why I have this glove." Remus pulled a thin black glove out of his pocket. "Many businesses try to make us pay more because we can only touch the gold and bronze coins, I really don't know why more werewolves don't just get a glove. It really pisses shopkeepers off when they have to give me proper change, I pay with sickles when they're expecting a galleon and I can pick the change up off the table. I've got a few pictures of some of their expressions, priceless."

Sal looked at the man who had worked on commission for him for many years, he _really_ looked like shit. "Hang on, you said glamours didn't work on werewolves, how did you manage to look like that without magical help?"

Sirius snickered and Remus glared at his supposed 'friend', "Sirius, shut it." Then he turned to Sal. "If you have to know, I'm extremely talented with make-up. It takes a grand total of 11 minutes to go from who you're used to looking at, to this." He waved his hand at his face and hands. "I could probably work for a theatre company or something."

Nio tried, and failed, to hold back his laughter. "You're wearing _make up_?"

Sal didn't bother to scold his son for being rude. "Well, I have to say, you're quite the talented artist. I can't say I'm surprised though, forgery is, after all, an art."

"Thank you." Remus said. "But if we're done discussing my least favourite part of my life, could we maybe move on to the actual reason for this meeting. Unless, of course, the whole point was to see how awkward you make the master forger feel."

Both Sal and Nio blushed and looked rather ashamed of themselves, a rare occurrence. It hadn't occurred to either of them that this was extremely embarrassing for John, even though he was hiding it well.

Sirius, who had thought it was best to be silent figured now was a good time to move things along. "Remus, or would you prefer John?"

"Remus, please. John Doe is so obviously an alias that it's just strange to use it, especially around you."

"Okay, Remus it is." Sirius said, sitting up a bit straighter in his chair. "I have a story for you, it starts with an innocent trip to Diagon Alley and ends with Nio and I acquiring some new toys."

"Would those toys be the swords you mentioned?" Remus asked.

"Um yeah. Anyway, story time. Nio, Sal, you're perfectly welcome to interrupt me at anytime." Nio and Sal grinned and sat back to listen. Sirius rolled his eyes and told Remus about their adventures yesterday and today. Remus took the news that Nio was Harry a whole lot better than Sirius, meaning that instead of passing out he just emulated a goldfish for ten minutes.

Remus' face flitted from emotion to emotion, unlike Sirius, Remus hadn't spent much time with Nio so the realisation that he'd been blind to Harry's presence was a bit easier to process. Finally, Remus spoke up.

"Well, I guess it makes sense now that I think about it. If you look past the tan, extremely toned body - good job on that by the way - and the slightly different face you do look a bit like your dad. I guess the lack of glasses and your longer hair make more of a difference than you'd think. And without the glasses you can tell that your cheekbones are more like your mothers."

Sirius looked at Nio, "If you ask me, which you didn't actually but I'm telling you anyway, Nio, you are perfect blend of your parents, Lily's eyes, cheekbones and nose, and James hair (not that it's obvious now), chin, eyesight and build."

"Hey guys." Nio said waving his hands in their faces. "I'm perfectly happy to hear about my other family, but it's getting a bit weird."

"Oh, sorry." Remus said. "Have you figured out what to do about magical guardianship? Theoretically speaking, you, Sirius, are Harry's magical guardian but Nio won't be going to school as Harry. So he'll automatically be assigned Dumbledore as a magical guardian...well this is complicated."

"Yeah, you're telling me, I nearly exploded my brain yesterday." Sirius said.

"We decided to think on it for a while and figure it out later." Nio added.

"I know that's not the best way to approach the situation but there's no easy answer that will satisfy Dumbledore, the ministry, us and still be magically legal." Sirius said. We've got a year and a half to figure it out.

Remus nodded, "Okay, I'll think about it. But I can't make any promises, there's quite a few things to take into consideration. We've got Harry - who doesn't officially exist outside of Gringotts – whose guardian, magical and legal is supposed to be Sirius who is supposedly still in prison but wasn't actually convicted so the guardianship is technically still his. Then we've got Nio who is actually Harry, he's kinda been legally adopted by Sal, his magical guardian is still Sirius but it's assumed that as a Muggleborn, Dumbledore is his magical guardian."

Sal groaned, "It sounds even more complicated when you say it all like that. I liked it better when Nio was just Nio."

Nio grinned, "But this is so much more interesting! Remember how satisfying it was to make me your 'real' son? If we get this to work too..." He got a dreamy expression. "It will be perfect."

Remus smirked at Sirius, "And we thought **_we_** were pranking the world."

* * *

Author's note: Thank you all so much for your various alters/favourites/reviews! I will try to get the next chapter up soon.


	8. Working Things Out

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Eight – Working Things Out**

* * *

Author's note: I'm so sorry this took so long, sometimes I can write and other times my mind just goes kapoot. Because it's been so long, you might want to go back and read a few of the previous chapters so you remember what's going on.

I decided not to read through this chapter once I finished it because that would just take more time and I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer than necessary.

* * *

_Previously: "Instead, they all made plans to meet up again nice and early Saturday morning."_

It was Saturday morning and everyone involved in the Harry Potter/Antonio Diadone situation was preparing to meet up at Gringotts, each and every one of them knew it was going to be a very long day, but none of them really minded. Minerva McGonagall was looking forward to learning more about Harry/Nio and how they were going to deal with the Dumbledore problem. She was getting more and more tired of the way he walked around twinkling day after day, as well as how he doled out information like rations during a war. Rebecca Charleston was practically dancing at the idea of pulling another one over the administration, she didn't hold much respect for Fudge or Dumbledore. Fudge had been systematically isolating her department for years, and ever since she helped to change Harry into Nio, her respect for Dumbledore had been falling. Samantha Charleston was literally rubbing her hands together in glee, there was no love lost between her and the wizarding world, anything she could do to throw a wrench in the works was cause for celebration. Sirius Black was of the same opinion as Samantha, but he was also trying to figure out a way to deal with Nio and Harry's respective magical guardianships, which was giving him a headache. He was also trying to figure out why he didn't know that the Potters had so much money, the Blacks had always been obsessed with keeping track of who had how much of what. How did the Potters hide that? Remus, who had been invited along by Sal and Sirius the day before, was feeling exactly the same as Sirius, a rare occurrence. Sal was wondering what the hell was wrong with the wizarding guardianship laws and deciding who to shoot if they tried to take Nio away. He was also making a mental list of questions that would help him in figuring out how the wizarding crime world worked, and how to take control of it. Nio's brain was running faster than everyone else's, he was still trying to come to grips with the fact that he had a godfather; someone who was apparently responsible for him in the wizarding world. He was also trying to understand how he could be famous for something _he_ couldn't possibly remember. Then there was his fortune, there was so much he could do with all that, he would be unstoppable if he could figure out how to use it properly, which should be fairly straightforward; after all, money was money, magic or not. He was also thinking up inventive ways to get back at this Dumbledore person, no one messed with a Diadone and got away with it, even if he wasn't officially a Diadone at the time. He was also wondering who the three ladies who met them on Wednesday were, there had been a note that said they should contact them but they never really figured out _why_. Well, that's what today was for.

All the co-conspirators in the Harry/Nio situation met in Gringotts bright and early on Saturday morning with a rather excited-looking goblin. They exchanged a few pleasantries before Sal pulled out a list, causing Nio and Sirius to groan, Sal's lists usually took hours to deal with.

"So, first things first, why are you three here? I mean, you seem like nice enough people but why did you put a note in Nio's file?" Sal asked Minerva, Becca and Sam.

Sam grinned, "Because between the three of us we have access to all the records in both worlds, if you want to make any changes to Nio/Harry's official anything, we are the ones who can do it."

"I guess that makes sense." Sal said. "Next, we have to deal with guardianship for Nio, we can deal with Harry later."

"Oh thanks." Nio said, rolling his eyes. "That makes my alter-ego feel so special."

Everyone looked at the goblin expectantly. "From what I can tell, magic will recognise Sirius as guardian; magically, everything is the same for Nio as it is with Harry, magic doesn't really care what you're named. Basically we just need to have the records show that Evan is Nio's guardian but not father because that honour goes to Salvatore over here."

"Well, that's easy." Sirius said with a grin. "I'll be your godfather."

Sal and Nio looked at Evan like he was crazy, "And how exactly does _that_ work? You'd have to be connected to me in some way, not just a random employee." Nio asked.

"I'm your mother's oldest friend whose heart nearly broke from grief when she died, I left the country to try and get my life back together. I'm a Muggleborn from some random country and when I heard that Nio was magical I came back so I could be around him. I'm stoked that I can share magic with the last link to my old friend." Sirius shrugged, "It's close enough to the truth and it puts me exactly where we need me to be, godfather and magical guardian."

"Yeah, and perfectly legal." Sam said with a grin. "Well, as legal as we're ever going to get what with an escaped convict, a Crime Lord and a kid who doesn't really exist as himself."

Minerva hid a smile, she hadn't had this much fun in years. "So I will update The Book at Hogwarts, Becca can shuffle some files at the ministry, Sam can deal with the Muggle system thing and the rest of you can just stay the way you are."

"Sounds good." Sirius said.

The goblin frowned, "You need to choose a country for Evan to be from, it needs to be one that doesn't register magic users, somewhere that doesn't keep track of magic use..."

"New Zealand!" Becca cried.

"Really?" Sal asked, "It's part of the Commonwealth, you'd think they would have the same system as England.

"No," Becca said, "The Commonwealth doesn't exist in the magical world. New Zealand finally managed to break away from the Australian magical government about 40 years ago, they completely closed their borders for ten years to get an independent magical government set up. But it's not really a government, if I remember correctly, it's just a few offices in Wellington that deal with international communication. No wand tracking or anything, it helps that they have probably the healthiest magical population around, no diseases that they have to try and control. They just have to deal with all sorts of magical creatures, there's a reason that there aren't any large native animals there... New Zealand is home to the largest dragon population in the world."

"Right, well, we weren't looking for a history of the country, but thanks anyway. So, Evan White, 29 years old from New Zealand, never registered because you didn't have to, handmade wand from a family friend, educated and accredited by the New Zealand magical education system which doesn't keep records of people, so you just have a certificate." Remus said, getting into his identity-making mode.

"Sounds good to me! Do we have a copy of the certificate?" Sirius asked.

"I know what it looks like and what enchantments it needs, it will be more difficult than Muggle documents but give me a week and Evan White will have official documentation from the New Zealand magical government, such as it is." Remus said smugly.

Sirius grinned, "It's a damn good thing those Kiwis are so laid back."

Rebecca smirked, "I never said they were laid back, just that their _internal_ magical government was. You try contacting them, or worse _going_ there, well, they're not so nice. They like their privacy down there."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.

"I mean, if someone from Britain, say, Dumbledore or Fudge, tries to contact them and double-check your certificate with anything less than super-sincere politeness, they will end up with relocated anatomy. And if they try to visit without permission...well, New Zealand is quite near to Antarctica."

Nio grinned, "I love it! Someday I'm going to visit, I'll bring a coat."

All the occupants of the room laughed. "I wonder if Albus knows about New Zealand and their strict policy to foreigners? I certainly didn't." Minerva said with a smile, "It would be quite amusing to see him try and prove that 'Evan' isn't the real guardian for the mystery student."

Sal snorted, "Let's hope that he has no reason to go looking into Nio's past." Then he pulled out his list, "Next, investments."

"I believe that is my cue to leave." Minerva said, "Just let me know if I can help you in any way."

Becca stood, "I should be going as well, you know how to get in touch if you need me."

Sam smirked, "I think I'll hang around, this will be interesting."

Nio grinned, "Oh yes, investments are always fun, they're the best way to take over the world!"

It took three hours, but by the time Sal, Nio, Sirius and Sam left Gringotts, the two had a firm grasp on the way the wizarding world dealt with crime and money. They had also found out that the Potters were extremely smart when it came to investing, they had money invested in both the magical and Muggle world, some of which the Diadones had invested in themselves. All in all, the Potters had more than just money and Nio was stoked beyond belief. The brief discussion of the wizarding 'criminal underworld' went as follows;

"That's it? Crime in the wizarding world is limited to petty thievery, bribing the government and killing people?" Nio asked in astonishment.

Sirius frowned, "Yeah, when you put it like that, there isn't really that much, I guess it just gets really blown out of proportion because of magic. And maybe we go a little overboard on the killing."

"That's for sure. Mass murderer that hung around for _years_? Jeese, ours are active for maybe a few months, sometimes a year if they're extremely lucky, or stupid, take your pick. Then they get caught and put away for life." Sal added.

They left the bank with magic debit cards for all and a collection of new bank accounts under different names. (The goblins thought it would be "quite amusing" to watch the wizarding authorities flounder with the changes that would be coming, they also didn't have any policy forbidding it - mostly because no one had thought of it before.) All in all, it was a pleased group of less-than-exemplary people who left Gringotts.

What was left of the morning was spent continuing their exploration of the Alley. Sirius ducked into Muggle London to call Remus so he and Sam could work on getting all the guardianship details worked out and the proper documentation created and filed. Sal headed straight for the apocathary and bought a full set of basic (and some not so basic) potions ingridents as well as everything he could possibly think of needing to make the potions he wanted. When Sirius got back he took Nio to Quality Quidditch Supplies where he bought an adequate broom and a practice snitch and quaffle, they decided against getting bludgers because they didn't think that the household staff would appreciate having to dodge flying bowling balls. Then they went to Flourish and Blotts where Sirius picked up a full set of course books for years one and two, he had decided that if Nio already knew the material then he would have more opportunities to be a true Marauder than if he actually had to pay attention in class. Funnily enough, Sal seemed to agree with him on this and had given his permission. Nio headed to the theoretical magic section and picked out just about every archaic book he could find, as well as a few on some of the more inventive ways to use magic. The two of them checked on Sal who was still ensconced in the potions' supply shop and then crept into the armoury. They wanted to find out about how magic weapons were made and if/how they could channel magic, the two of them didn't want to do one of their "light sabre" fights until they knew that it wouldn't ruin the nice swords they had found in their respective vaults. After an extremely long conversation with a very confused blacksmith, who had no idea what they were talking about, Sirius and Nio just decided to buy a couple of swords to test. Nio then fiddled with the man's memory so he wouldn't be too curious of what exactly they were doing with magic and swords.

* * *

Two days after the trips to Diagon Alley, and revelations thereof, Sal decided that it was time for him to learn about potions, so he called Evan into his office.

"Evan, come in, I have a request to make of you and I'm sure that you know what it is." Sal said as Evan walked into his office.

"Hello, Sal." Sirius said as he sat down, dreading the coming conversation. "Yeah I think I do."

"Good. I would like you to teach me how to make the wonderful things known as potions. Nothing too fancy, I know I can't do much without magic, but I do believe the basics would be most beneficial." Sal said with a small smile.

Sirius nodded, "I figured. When would you like to start? And do you have an idea of where you would like to start? I know you have been doing quite a bit of reading on the subject so you probably know more theory than I do."

Sal grinned outright at this, "As a matter of fact, I _do_ have a place I'd like to start. The fire protection potion seems like as good a place as any."

"Sounds good." Sirius said, his heart on the way to sinking, that was one of the more fiddly beginner potions. "Should I assume that you would like to start today?" He asked.

"Yes, I have set up a small, secure room in the basement as a lab, if you could meet me down there once you and Nio have finished sparring for the day, I would like you to look over it and then we can get started."

Sirius smiled, he had hoped that his teaching Sal wouldn't get in the way of his time with Nio, especially their fighting, he was pleased that it had turned out how he wanted. Things got even better when Sal added, "Oh, and make sure to bring Nio with you, you might as well teach him at the same time. I bought two sets of everything." Sal saw the grin flit across Evan's face, he knew that the man was attached to his son (and vice versa) and was happy to oblige them whenever possible.

"I will do that, sir." Sirius said, then he excused himself and headed towards the private exercise room which he and Nio used for their magical sparring sessions. They had found that the swords from the vaults held up just fine under the onslaught of magic and had both become quite good at using them to fling magic around the room. Nio had also managed to find a way to shield the room so that they didn't destroy it with the ambient magic.

On his way to their practice room, Sirius thought about how much Nio had changed the way he viewed and used magic. One thing Sirius had noticed while working with Nio and his way of using magic, was that he couldn't use his wand as well as he had before. It was like his magic changed when he used it differently. When he started, he was very good at spell casting through his wand and rarely had difficulty doing so; however, after using Nio's wandless version, Sirius' wand didn't respond the way it used to for the spells he learned from Nio. Once he learned to do something Nio's way, he could no longer do it with his wand successfully. There were many things he couldn't do Nio's way (as he had taken to calling it) so he used his wand for those, but for the others it was an either or sort of situation. Nio hypothesized that this was because the spells he could do Nio's way were ones in tune with his magic and didn't require the wand's magic to balance them out, the ones he couldn't do were ones that required a type/colour of magic that he didn't have. Sirius shook his head as he walked into the gym, trying to understand the way magic worked gave him a headache, especially when trying to include Nio's method; Sirius left that sort of thing to people who actually cared. Personally, he just liked being able to do cool stuff without a wand; like fighting with magic-infused swords.

"Evan," Nio called when his sparring partner walked in and started warming up, "Why're you late?"

"Hey, Nio. I was talking with Sal, apparently we are starting potions today, right after this." Sirius replied.

"Nice. It will be interesting to see how Dad does, I mean, from what I can tell, potions don't require magic but knowing him he will want to try the most complicated ones he can…" Nio said as he browsed his sword selection, he finally decided on the magical double cross swords, in his opinion they were the most fun, Evan agreed with him on that.

Sirius grimaced, "Yeah, Sal chose the Fire Protection potion, it's rather delicate and precise, but fairly simple in terms of ingredients." Then he looked up and saw Nio's sword choice, "Magic doubles today?" He asked.

Nio grinned, "Yeah, I felt like having a bit of a challenge, as well as fun, today." He let a trickle of magic flow into the metal and gave an experimental swing, "Anyway, I think I figured out a way to change the colours of my magic, I'd like to try and create a light show. It'd be cool."

"Wow, a light show." Sirius said with a rather worried expression, "Should I get some sunglasses? The last time you fiddled with colours you nearly blinded Vince and me." It was times like these that reminded Sirius that Nio was not even ten yet.

Nio laughed, that had been really funny; all he had been trying to do was mimic the colours of Evan's magic…somehow he managed to fill the room with brilliant periwinkle blue light, temporarily causing Vince and Evan to lose their eyesight. Kimiko had been smart enough to figure out what he was trying and closed her eyes. "Yeah, well, I've practiced without the sword and won't be blinding you this time. I wouldn't recommend the sunglasses though, I want to do the throwing thing we did last time and you're going to want to be able to see what's coming."

Sirius grinned, he _loved_ the 'throwing thing', it was when they super-charged the swords with magic and then purposefully let the magic fly off them, it was very similar to casting a spell except that it didn't have a specific intention, it was just directed raw magic. Also, if you knew what you were doing, you could catch the magic with your own sword and then add to it from there. It really was quite spectacular, not to mention deadly, reckless and completely against the current 'laws' of magic. Thank god neither of them really cared about such things...

* * *

Sirius and Nio ended up finishing their sparring session early because Nio managed to collect so much magic on his sword that when he let it go it caused a small explosion which broke his shield and blew up part of the wall. The two of them guiltily told the Diadones' personal repairmen about the wall then hurried to the showers and down to the basement where Sal was waiting for them.

"Evan, Nio, do I want to know why you're early?" Sal asked as the two magical miscreants arrived.

"Probably not." Nio responded, "It involved swords, magic and a wall, and that's all I'm saying."

Sal groaned, they had probably gotten too carried away and destroyed something, again. He often wondered when the poor handymen would finally decide they'd had enough and quit; little did he know that they actually enjoyed their job and there was a betting pool concerned with when the next destruction would take place, what caused it (usually speculation because they didn't know about the magic), and how long it would take to fix. "I will try not to think about that." He said.

Sirius decided that it was time to change the topic of conversation. "So, potions." He said, walking to the middle of the 'small' room. "First, you need to collect all the ingredients required as well as the proper tools. You can find lists in the book and the supplies are wherever Sal put them."

Sal took that as his cue to give a tour of their personal potions lab and then they started work on their potions.

It didn't take long for Sal to melt his first cauldron, instead of stirring counter-clockwise after adding the salamander blood, he stirred clockwise, which caused the potion to turn into an extremely potent acid. Nio managed to get through it without destroying anything but instead of being deep red, his was more of a burnt orange. Still, Sirius called it passable. Sal got his right on the third try, it seemed that he had a bit of talent for potions...when he followed the directions properly. At first this surprised Sirius but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense; Salvator Diadone never followed the rules, why would potions be any different? Thankfully, he quickly decided that this was one part of life in which it would be much more beneficial to follow the rules than ignore them.

Life at the Diadone mansion settled into a calm rhythm over the next few months, Evan and Nio played/worked with magic and Sal and Nio learned potions from Evan. It turned out that they both had quite the talent for them and they had worked all the way through the first three years of the Hogwarts' potions curriculum. Evan also worked with Nio on the rest of the Hogwarts classes as well as teaching him about being a member of the wizarding political world. After all, the Potters held a seat on the Wizengamot and were quite wealthy.

Remus and Sam had worked out and filed all of the relevant paperwork so that Evan White was officially Nio's godfather and magical guardian.

* * *

Sirius unlocked his post box and pulled out the latest Daily Prophet, he still chuckled at the 'Prophet Only' or 'PO' box, stuffing it in his bag, he vowed to read it sometime today. Later that afternoon, right after his 'lesson' with Nio/Harry - he _still_ hadn't decided which name to call him - he got a call from Remus.

"Hey, Remus. What's up?"

_'You haven't heard?'_

"Heard what?" Sirius was extremely confused.

_'You're dead!'_

"I'M WHAT?"

_'Have you read today's Prophet yet?'_

Sirius started rummaging around in his bag for the paper, "No, I was busy. It's not like it has any bearing on my life right now."

_'Oh, you'll want to read it.'_ Remus waited for Sirius to find the paper. _'And don't worry, you can't miss it, front page, big picture...'_

"HOLY FUCK!" Sirius yelled, "I'M DEAD!"

_'Told you so.'_

The front page of the paper, which he hadn't seen before because it had been folded in half backwards, sported a blown-up picture of his face, well, the face of the man he'd made look like him. The caption read 'Sirius Black found dead in cell, world rid of mass murdering menace.' "Jeeze, I can't believe I died." Sirius muttered, the cause of death was attributed to over-exposure to Dementors.

_'I can't believe your transfiguration held up that long.'_ Remus supplied from the other end of the line.

"Yeah, but now the world thinks I'm dead..." Sirius mumbled. "Ah, shit. This makes the whole guardianship thing even _more_ complicated."

Remus was quiet for a moment_, 'Actually, this could work in our favour.'_

"Oh really? How exactly is that?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

_'I have a few ideas, but we'd have to run them past the goblins just to make sure they're legal.'_

"Okay, I'm free now. Can you meet me at Gringotts now?"

_'Yup, now is good. John Doe out.'_ Remus said with what sounded like a grin.

"You are so strange." Sirius said, shaking his head.

_'Aren't I supposed to be the one saying that?'_

"Probably. But whatever, see you in a bit." Sirius ended the call, slipped into a back alley and apparated to the Leaky Cauldron. He made sure his glamour was in place before stepping through the doors.

* * *

Sirius and Remus - who looked the part of a decrepit werewolf - walked up to the counter and asked to speak with Sirius' account manager.

"Ah, I thought I would be seeing you today." The goblin said as they sat down. "I'm assuming you need to do something concerning a will?"

"Yeah," Sirius said. "I need to figure out a way to keep my existence a secret but also keep my money, house, investments, etc. We also need to figure out where Harry's guardianship stands.

The goblin frowned, "We haven't had to deal with something like this before, especially with you alive, well and sitting in this office."

Remus sat up a bit straighter, dropping the werewolf act. "I have an idea, but I'm not sure of it's legality." He said.

The goblin noticed Remus' change in demeanor and frowned, "Remus Lupin, you are a werewolf, are you not?"

"I am." Remus responded with a scowl. "But I don't recall the goblins having an opinion on that matter."

"That we don't. I only ask because you do not have the feel of a werewolf, nor is that your true face, despite the fact that you cannot wear a glamour."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything." Sirius jumped in, defending his friend and his secret.

The goblin raised his hands in very un-goblin-like gesture of surrender. "I meant no offense. I was merely curious." Then he changed the subject. "What was your suggestion?"

Remus relaxed and patted Sirius on the shoulder to calm him down, "I was going to suggest that Sirius make Harry Potter his heir and then give up his position as head of the family. I know that Albus Dumbledore will attempt to take control of his assets and votes because Harry is not supposed to know about any of this and Dumbledore still thinks that he is Harry's guardian, but maybe if Sirius appoints someone else to be in charge until Harry is of age. Naturally, I would prefer this to be me but as we both know, that is impossible due to my condition."

The goblin frowned, "This is a problem, also, if Harry becomes heir to two Ancient and Noble houses it is possible he could be forced to marry twice."

"Becca!" Sirius said excitedly.

"You're going to have to explain that a bit more." Remus said with a frown.

"Just wait, I need to talk to her first."

Both Remus and the goblin asked what it was but Sirius refused to say anything until Becca arrived.

Sirius smiled when Becca walked in the door, "Rebecca, darling, would you like to have a kid?" He asked in his most charming voice.

Becca stared at Sirius, "What?"

"I suppose we should start from the beginning, right?"

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea." Becca told Sirius as she sat down, giving him a strange look.

"Okay, as you know, Sirius Black died in his cell last night. That leaves us with two main problems; one, Harry Potter doesn't have a magical guardian of our choosing and two, the Black fortune etc. will be going to the Malfoys. You with me so far?" Becca nodded. "Good. Now, I have a solution to both problems but they both require a lot of cooperation on your part."

Becca frowned at Sirius, she didn't really like the sound of that, the way Sirius said it gave her the impression that her life was going to get _extremely_ complicated. "Well, I'm listening. I'm not going to promise anything, but I would like to do what I can to help. After all, this whole situation is extremely fun."

"Nice. My plan actually starts with the second problem; the Black fortune. The only way to keep it out of the Malfoys' hands would be if I had a son, so, I need a kid. Because all that money is rightfully mine, I'll just take a de-aging potion to temporarily make myself a kid again. The only problem is I need a mother. My idea is that that would be you, you don't have to be my wife or anything, just the mother of my kid. That then leads to the first problem being solved, Sirius Black - who already has a kid with you - then names you Harry's guardian." Sirius grinned, "It's perfect!"

"Uh..." Becca tried to sort that out in her head. "So what you're saying is that I would be Sirius Black's not-wife, you would pretend to be my son, and Sirius would name me Harry's guardian?"

"Yeah!" Sirius said excitedly.

Remus blinked, that was one complex plan! He was surprised that Sirius had managed to think of it so quickly. "Jeeze Sirius, I never knew you had it in you."

The goblin looked between the three humans seated in front of him, they were part of the most interesting work the goblins had ever done. He grinned as he remembered how they had already tricked the wizarding world and that grin widened as he thought about just how amusing it would be if they pulled it off. And he had no doubt they would pull it off if the goblins were helping, after all, they _were_ in charge of all the inheritance stuff in the wizarding world.

"This is all well and good," Becca said, "But how are we going to make it work?"

"Don't worry about that," The goblin said, showing all it's teeth, "We here at Gringotts will make sure everything comes together, we haven't had a chance to do something like this before, it will be quite...interesting."

Sirius stared at the goblin, goblins didn't help wizards, they just didn't, not unless there was something in it for them. "And what do you get out of it?" He asked suspiciously.

"Another chance to trick the wizards. And a lot of gold, we would of course charge for our services." The goblin said with a shrug.

Remus cleared his throat, "I think before this goes any further we should get Sal and Nio in here. Probably McGonagall and Sam as well.

"You're right." Sirius said. "Not that that's surprising, you're always right, but yeah, we should get then asap."

* * *

Sirius walked quickly out of the bank, through the Leaky Cauldron and onto the street so his phone would work. Then he called Sal.

_'What?'_ Sal asked sharply.

"Sal, this is Sirius, we've run into a bit of a problem concerning my status in the wizarding world, one that effects Nio's as well."

There was silence on the other end of the line. _'I see. Should we come to that pub?'_

"That would probably be good."

_'Okay, we will be there in 20 minutes.'_

"Thank you. I hope we can get this worked out." Sal must have hung up because all Sirius could hear was the dial tone.

Sirius then called Sam and then when he got back to the bank he flooed McGonagall from a private room. Three hours later, Rebecca Charleston was the ex-fiancée of Sirius Black (with the official Black engagement ring to prove it) and mother of 12 year old Rigel Black (who looked remarkably like his father and was privately tutored in the Department of Mysteries), and Sirius Black had a 'proper' will which named either his good friend Remus Lupin or his fiancée Rebecca Charleston as Harry's guardian, should anything happen to him. It was amazing how cooperative the goblins were when breaking wizarding laws (and being paid obscenely large amounts of money).

Sirius was sad that he was officially dead but also secretly glad; there was almost a zero percent chance of anyone looking for him now and therefore highly unlikely that he would be going back to prison. It was also amazing that they had managed to keep everything the way it was.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was elated when he found out that Sirius Black had died in Azkaban, now there was no way he could be proven innocent and given charge of his godson, Harry Potter. The first thing he did was have a celebratory drink and then he apparated to Gringotts to find out if Sirius had a will, and if he did, to make sure that he, Albus, was given magical custody of Harry. Unfortunately, when he got to the bank he had to wait a few hours because the goblins were still in the process of locating Sirius' will, then they would be able to let the Supreme Mugwump take a look at it. Little did he know that they were actually _creating_ the will and making sure that there was no way he could do what he was planning.

By the time the will had been located, so had those named in it, so instead of being able to read and then seal it (as he had done with the Potters'), Albus was forced to listen as it was read officially (thank Merlin he had been named).

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice." A portly goblin stated once the small inheritance room was quiet. "As you know, you are here for the reading of the Last Will and Testament of Sirius Orion Black." He unrolled a fake-aged parchment, "It goes as follows;

"_I, Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and memory, do declare this my Last Will and Testament which I make this First day of June, One thousand nine hundred and eighty one._

_Article One_

_Preliminary Declarations_

_I revoke all prior wills and codicils._

_I am engaged to Rebecca A. Charleston and declare her, along with the Honurable Goblins of Gringotts, to be executor of this Will. Should my son, Rigel S. Black, be of age at the time of this reading, he is also named executor._

_I wish to be cremated._

_Article Two_

_Bequests_

_To Rebecca A. Charleston and Rigel S. Black, I give my endless love and all of my worldly possessions not listed below._

_To Rigel S. Black, I give the title of Lord Black. I also give my journals, may they teach you the ways of the world, and my motorcycle and broomstick collection._

_To James H. Potter, I give the brown and gold trunk in my vault. Don't ever forget._

_To Remus J. Lupin, I give the amount of one million galleons, live like you're meant to._

_To Lily R. Potter nee Evans, I give her choice of 50 books from the Black Family Library._

_To Peter P. Pettigrew, I give the black book, please find something useful to do with yourself._

_To Albus P. W. B. Dumbledore, I give the contents of vault 2104._

_To all members of the Black Family with the exception of my son, I give one knut each._

_To Draco Malfoy, I give five hundred thousand galleons upon his majority, with the stipulation that he _not_ turn out like the rest of his family. This will be determined by my fiancée, Rebecca A. Charleston._

_To Harry J. Potter, I give my copy of the M.M. (ask your dad, he knows what I mean) and the green journals._

_To my parents, Walburga and Orion Black, I give the finger and a snub nose._

_To Regulus Black, I give the finger._

_Article Three_

_Guardianship Provisions_

_I give legal and magical guardianship of my son, Rigel S. Black, to Rebecca A. Charleston. If Rebecca is unable to assume said guardianship then it shall go to one of the following (in order of preference):_

_James and Lily Potter_

_Remus J. Lupin_

_Frank and Alice Longbottom_

_Samantha Charleston (with magical guardianship going to Minerva M. McGonagall)_

_If, at the time of my death, the legal or magical guardianship of Harry J. Potter rests in my hands, I transfer said guardianship to Rebecca A. Charleston. If Rebecca is unable to assume said guardianship then it shall go to one named by the Potters, or one of the following (in order of preference):_

_Remus J. Lupin_

_Frank and Alice Longbottom_

_Arthur and Molly Weasley_

_Article Four_

_Bequests to Me_

_Any bequests given to me I transfer to Rebecca A. Charleston and Rigel S. Black._

_Article Five_

_Final Comments_

_Thank Merlin that is over, I sound like an old stuffy man with actual responsibility. Rigel, I'm so sorry I won't be there to watch you grow up but I know Mum will be great, she always is. I hope you get to meet Harry some day, I'm sure you two will get along great. Oh yeah, don't show Mum the journals, they'll get me in trouble. Becca, take care of our boy, make sure he has a good time. I'm so sorry I went and died on you, just remember I promised to love you till the end of time. But you'd better not get all depressed, Rigel needs you, and don't mourn me, you know I'd hate that. James, don't forget to manage mischief, it's what makes the world go round, and don't you dare grow up any more than absolutely necessary. Remus, no you can't give the money back, no you can't give it away, buy yourself something nice. Lily, you beautiful flower, take care of James and _please_ let him have some fun! Harry, I know you won't remember much of me, but ask your dad to tell you stories of Padfoot and Prongs, he'll know what I'm talking about. Albus, learn to take a hint. Draco, remember that you're your own person and can make your own decisions. Also, don't you _dare_ try to threaten Becca into giving you that money unless you deserve it, she works for the DoM and has ways of knowing that you can only dream of._

_On this First day of June, One thousand eight hundred and eighty one, in the Bank of Gringotts, Diagon Alley, London, I hereby sign this document and declare it to be my Last Will._

_Sirius Orion Black_

_Witnessed by:_

_Rebecca Ann Charleston_

_and_

_James Harold Potter_

_Authorized by:_

_Goblin Griphook_

After the will reading, everyone was in very different states of mind; Draco was thoughtful, 500,000 galleons wasn't a number to be scoffed at but doing what Sirius had was a dangerous road; Remus was laughing because a million galleons was a fraction of what he already had; Narcissa was fuming because Sirius had gone and had a kid which took away Draco's chance of being the Black heir; Albus was pissed because the vault Sirius had given him was empty except for a scathing note about how Sirius knew he was up to something _and_ because Sirius had made provisions for Harry, he was also annoyed that Sirius had a son and fiancée and not told him; Rebecca was annoyed because people kept staring at her and her hand which still held the Black engagement ring, but she was also thrilled that they had managed to pull this off; and 'Rigel' was pretending to be sad and depressed but was actually laughing his ass off.

Albus managed to convince Rebecca that even though she was Harry's magical guardian, the Dursleys were his legal ones and that he was safest there because of the blood wards. It was true that the Dursleys had once been Harry's legal guardians (Dumbledore had 'passed' a few laws that allowed him to make them such) but now it was Salvator Diadone. Becca, knowing the truth of the situation, just went along with it.

That evening, all the co-conspirators got together and had a small party; their prank was progressing splendidly and no one was the wiser.

* * *

Author's note:

Again, sorry this took so long. I hope the whole guardianship thing isn't too confusing, I needed to make sure that the fake Sirius wouldn't be exposed and Sirius get caught as well as keep the whole Harry/Nio thing from leaking.

The next chapter will be Hogwarts prep and then the school itself!

Please let me know what you think!

Oh yeah, one last thing, you can thank Dreamweaver for this update, they kept poking my muse.


	9. Off to Hogwarts

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Nine – Off to Hogwarts**

* * *

Author's Note: I think I need to clarify something, in the last chapter Sirius/Evan took a deaging potion to become Rigel, his own son. I forgot to mention that this was a _temporary_ potion and that he was back to normal by the next day. Sorry for the confusion.

Oh yeah, _I don't own Harry Potter!_

But, enough of that, on to the story!

A/N #2: A few errors were pointed out and they have been fixed, thank you so much to those who did so, I hate making silly mistakes like name spelling.

* * *

Over the next year, Nio continued to learn and grow, and not just magically. Some of his non-magical accomplishments were 'graduating' secondary school, conducting his first interrogation, starting his own investment portfolio, learning to drive a race car and beating all the levels of Final Fantasy as well as every single Mario game ever invented. Evan became more and more like a favorite big brother and Drew Prewett was his best friend. Unfortunately, Drew and Evan didn't hang out much and somehow, Evan never learned Drew's last name. If he had, things might have become more interesting a little sooner. As is was, by the time Nio's Hogwarts letter arrived, he had become quite the young man; he was basically a genius, knew a lot about how both real worlds worked and was thoroughly prepared to take Hogwarts and the wizarding world by storm. He had shoulder-length dark brown hair with reddish highlights, piercing green eyes and a rather feminine (though no one would say it to him) face, very tan skin, and he was quite tall for his age, nearing five feet tall and well muscled. All in all, he didn't look much like either of his birth parents, which was a very good thing.

The morning of July 25th, 1991 dawned bright and clear in the Diadone household and those who knew about Nio's true heritage were getting rather worried; according to Evan, the Hogwarts letters were supposed to arrive sometime in the middle of July, and Nio's hadn't arrived yet. However, they needn't have worried because just as they were sitting down to breakfast a tawny owl swooped in the window (they had been leaving one open to avoid any untoward accidents) and landed in front of Nio.

"Well, I guess we don't have to worry about not getting the letter." Nio said as he relieved the owl of it's burden. "Now, let's see what this thing says."

* * *

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc, Chf. Warlock,_ _Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear Mr. Diadone,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

_Minerva McGonagall_

Deputy Headmistress

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZADRY

UNIFORM First-year students will require: sets of plain work robes (black) plain pointed hat (black) for day wear pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings) _Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags._ COURSE BOOKS All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Yours sincerely,

_Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus_

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions

* * *

"Well, that seems simple enough." Kimiko said, reading over Nio's shoulder. "But you don't have that particular book on magical theory, I would know, I've read them all. I guess you'll have to make yet another trip to Flourish and Blotts."

"Oh calamity. What ever shall we do?" Sal said with a grin, he had become quite fond of the bookshop in Diagon Alley and probably knew more about the theory of potions and magic, wizarding politics, and history of the wizarding world than most NEWT students. He certainly knew more than any other muggle alive. And he liked it that way.

Sirius groaned, whenever they set foot in that dammed shop they didn't leave for over an hour. The worst part was, as Nio's bodyguard, he (and sometimes Vince, when he joined them) wasn't allowed to leave, he had to either follow Nio around or guard the door (which was even more boring than looking at books). Then he remembered there were other things on the list that they had to get, oh well, he would just have to put up with _yet another_ trip to Diagon Alley.

"I guess I also need to get my wand, robes, many more crystal vials, a silly pointed hat - I still can't believe you guys actually have those, it's such a cliché - and probably some more dragonhide gloves, mine are a bit...worn."

Sirius snorted, "That's putting it mildly, your poor gloves look like they've been dipped in acid repeatedly."

"So, when do we leave?" Nio asked excitedly.

* * *

The next week Sal, Nio, Evan and Vince went to Diagon Alley to gather what school supplies they didn't already have. Nio refused, point blank, to ever write on traditional parchment with a quill, it just wasn't going to happen. Instead, the three of them compromised, Nio would use a fountain pen (which he could already write with) and slightly thicker, more parchment-like regular paper.

Finally, all they had left to buy were robes and a wand. Nio walked into the wand shop and was immediately assaulted by the bright colours of the combined wands' magic. He saw many different magical combinations, each made to balance out a different person's magic, Nio wondered what type of wand would 'pick' him because as far as he could tell, his magic was already perfectly balanced; maybe there was a neutral one, possibly one that was just as balanced as him? But as he looked around he didn't see any wands that were the same white with a kaleidoscope of colours, like his magic. Soon, Nio felt the approach of a magical person and turned around to greet whoever it was that was trying to sneak up on him.

Ollivander was rather put out when the boy seemed to sense his approach; he really liked startling his costumers. When he didn't recognize the boy, he assumed he didn't have magical parents (because he remembered every single wand he'd ever sold, who he sold it to, their magical signature and what they looked like).

"Ah, Muggleborn are you? No matter, we'll just start with the basics. Let's see…redwood with unicorn hair, 11 1/2 inches." He handed the wand to the kid. "Give it a wave."

Nio reached for the wand that had a pinkish edge and a light blue inside, he waved it around a bit, not focusing on anything; the desk caught on fire.

"No, no, that's not right. Try this one, oak and dragon heartstring, 9 3/4 inches." It started raining cats and dogs. Literally. "Moving on." They went through almost every single combination possible, even a certain holly and phoenix feather one (the carpet attacked everyone's shoes), at first Ollivander was excited, then frustrated, and then annoyed. Eventually he wanted to give up before his shop was _completely_ destroyed. The kid obviously had magic, but the wands just weren't working properly! Finally, Ollivander decided to ask the kid if there was anything he knew of that might be affecting his wand choice or the wands' choices; the answer surprised him.

"Well, I've always been able to work my magic with just my hands, I've used my godfather's wand a few times but my magic just does what I want, when I want." Nio explained.

After another hour of deliberation, Ollivander came to the conclusion that Nio wouldn't be able to use a wand like normal wizards. He gave Nio a hollow piece of mahogany and left it at that. He then spent the rest of the day putting his shop back together, grumbling about tricky costumers and magical anomalies.

* * *

The final stop was for Nio's robes; while Madam Malkien was fitting him, Sirius, Vince and Sal reviewed the school rules and discussed inventive ways to break them (or at least bend extensively). It was during his fitting that Nio was officially introduced to the pureblood maniac known as Lucius Malfoy and his son Draco.

Draco and his father walked into the robe shop and were extremely displeased to find that the proprietress was busy, and with someone Lucius couldn't identify, meaning they weren't pureblood and, judging by their Muggle-style clothing, they weren't even halfblood. Therefore, they weren't worth knowing. Lucius huffed pompously and mentioned something about interfering and bothersome mudbloods before haughtily declaring that he would be outside so as to avoid contamination. Draco, on the other hand, noticed two things his father seemed to miss; the quality of the boy's clothing - muggle-style notwithstanding - was possibly on par with his own (possibly higher, not that he would admit it), and the boy held himself in a dignified manner that screamed both wealth and danger. The young Malfoy remembered what Sirius had written in his will about deviating from his father's viewpoints and then made one of the best decisions of his life - not that he knew it at the time - and chose to figure out who this boys was before passing judgment. He had absolutely no idea that the next ten minutes would change his entire view of the world, and set the downfall of his father. So, with those thoughts both in (and out) of mind, Draco Malfoy approached the unknown mudbl-muggleborn. He held out his hand and attempted a pleasant facial expression.

"Afternoon, I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Nio had seen and heard the two aristocrats come in so when the younger one approached him he prepared himself to be sickeningly polite and horribly rude at the same time. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the boy made an actual effort to be polite. He knew a little about the Malfoys from Evan so he decided to introduce this one to a bit of muggle humour.

"And I'm Bond, James Bond." Nio said with a winning smile.

Draco frowned, "Bond. That's an interesting name, even for a mud- I mean, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Is this your first year at Hogwarts?"

Nio laughed, "I'm kidding, jeeze, don't you know about Bond? Everyone knows about James Bond, he's probably the most famous secret agent in cinema history! 007, top-rate operative for MI-5. Anyway, I'm Antonio Diadone." He shook the confused boy's hand.

"What's cinema?" Draco asked. Nio spent the next few minutes explaining the concept of a 'movie' to the pureblood; Draco seemed torn between fascination and scorn for something so _muggle_. Finally, he decided to change the subject to something he was more comfortable with. "So, what house do you want to be in?" He asked.

"Well," Nio said, "I've got a few traits that fit each house so I'm not really sure. But I think I'd be happy anywhere, except perhaps Ravenclaw, it sounds a bit dull. See, each of them has their drawbacks; Slytherin sounds ruthless, I mean, don't get me wrong, ambition and power are all well and good, but I'm not sure I want to be watching my back 24/7. Then there's Hufflepuff, I don't think my brand of loyalty would be appreciated there, and it probably draws some fluffy people. And Gryffindor, well, it seems like they are reckless which would get rather frustrating after a while, but then, it also has the most potential to be amusing. So, long story short, I don't know but the lions are towards the top of my list."

Draco just gaped at Antonio, he had _never_ heard someone rationalize their preferred house choice like that. Ever. That shocked thought was interrupted by Nio, "Well, it will be interesting to see what happens." Then the kid walked out the door.

"Yeah…see ya." Draco muttered as Antonio Diadone, the obviously rich mud-muggleborn walked out of the shop.

Evan and Sal had watched the exchange and would be interested to see how much influence Nio had on Draco, there wouldn't be much influence the other way around, but they wondered if it would be possible to change the pureblood's outlook on life. Evan was looking forward to Lucius Malfoy's inevitable fall from grace, it's hard to keep you power when your only son and heir disagrees with you.

Draco spent the rest of his summer holidays deep in thought, completely ignoring his 'friends'. He couldn't get what Antonio said out of his mind; he even forgot to be mean to the house elf!

* * *

The morning of September the first saw a rather unique argument taking place in the Diadone manor.

"Evan, that is the most ridiculous idea you've had in a while!" Nio said a little louder than necessary.

"No, it's not, it's brilliant!" Sirius retorted. "Come on, back me up Sal, you know it would be safer."

Sal sighed, Evan had found out a while back that he could manipulate his Animagus form in both size and species; most importantly, he could make himself look like an overgrown cat. So, naturally, Evan wanted to accompany Nio to Hogwarts. Nio didn't think it was a good idea because they didn't know how long the transformations would last and whether or not a cat that big would even be allowed (even shrunk down Evan was still the size of a small puma). Still, there weren't any written restrictions on pet size and he was technically feline and Evan had once spent an entire day stalking around the manor as a cat-ish thing. So, Nio's argument wasn't exactly the most solid and it was pretty obvious that he thought having Evan around would be very amusing. Sal suspected Nio was just annoyed that he hadn't thought of it first.

"Nio, Evan, that's enough." Sal said, holding up a hand for silence. Nio, you need to work on your negotiating skills and Evan, I'm going to assume that you've already packed a bag?" Nio shrugged, he knew he was fighting a losing battle from the moment Evan suggested it and Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "Good. Now then, into the car, we're going to be late. Evan, cat time."

Sirius grinned and handed Nio a shrunk bag before changing into Padfoot, then morphing into a large cat and then shrinking himself as much as possible; he still came up to Nio's waist. They all slid into the 'small' limo and headed to King's Cross. Sal had to leave Nio outside the barrier but the newly christened 'Scruffs' decided he had had enough of the cage (which was about the size of Nio's trunk), so he magicked it open and dashed through the column dividing the two parts of the station, nearly knocking over a dark-skinned boy and his parents.

"Damn it, Scruffs!" Nio yelled before he gave his father a hug and pushed his cart through after his wayward pet.

* * *

Blaise Zabini jumped as a massive black cat barreled past him and disappeared through the wall that led to Platform 9 ¾. A rather Italian looking boy hugged a tall man in a fancy suit and dark sunglasses before hurrying after the cat, if it could be called a cat. Blaise then noticed that the man was being shadowed by no less than three bodyguards, one of which was watching where the boy had just been. _Hmm._ Blaise thought. _A rich muggleborn and his father... and important if the number of bodyguards is anything to go by._ He decided to keep an eye on the kid because if there was anything his relatives had taught him it was to respect power (magical and not), money and those who have it; you never know, you may be staring down the end of their wand (or gun) at some point in your life if you're not careful. With a shrug he and his parents walked through the barrier.

* * *

Nio looked around the platform and tried to find his 'cat', he had known that bringing Scruffs was the same as bringing a big box of trouble, but he hadn't really expected it to start so soon. He was sure that his dad, Vince and Leo were laughing their heads off in the limo right now.

"Scruffs, you get back here right now or I swear to god I'll dye you blond!" Nio yelled over the noise of the crowd. 30 seconds later an extremely wet nose nudged his hand. "There you are, I hope you realize that you're supposed to be a _pet_, and therefore in a _cage_." Nio said quietly enough not to draw any more attention to them.

Sirius couldn't believe that Nio had threatened to dye him BLOND! That was just cruel. He then used their rudimentary sign language to tell Nio, "Checking. Threats. All clear." Followed by; "You, mean." Then he hissed and walked (more like _stalked_) to the train. Nio rolled his eyes and followed Evan, resigned to having a massive, disobedient cat. He would have to have a chat with Scruffs sooner or later about proper pet behaviour.

Sirius walked through the train until he found an empty compartment where he promptly stretched out along one of the benches and waited for Nio to show up. While he was waiting he was hit by a wave of nostalgia; it was a good thing that between the long hair, reddish highlights, tan skin and lack of glasses that Nio didn't look much like James Potter, otherwise the lines between the past and present might get a bit blurred. It was hard enough to keep the nostalgia away as it was.

Nio found Scruffs hogging an entire bench in one of the compartments about halfway down the train. "You know, you could have waited, I _do_ have to deal with this big, heavy trunk and the crowd, not to mention that I could have been kidnapped!" Scruffs raised an eyebrow. "Okay fine, the trunk is weightless, I pushed the crowd around with magic and kidnapping me is nigh impossible but still, you could have waited."

It wasn't long before the first person peeked in the door looking for a seat, it was a short bushy-haired girl who took one look at Scruffs, squeaked and hurried away, dragging her trunk behind her.

"Scruffs," Nio said calmly, "You're scaring the children." The cat just winked and went back to lazing in the sun, purring the whole time. Next, a young red-haired kid asked if Nio had seen Harry Potter because he was supposed to be on the train but the kid couldn't find him. All the while, the boy, Ron, was shooting rather fearful glances at Scruffs who started staring at him and flicking his tail back and forth. Nio just raised an eyebrow and asked why. The answer 'Because I'm going to be his best friend' caused Scruffs to hiss at him and knead his claws on the seat, this sent the boy running out of the compartment without even saying goodbye.

When Evan heard the Weasley boy declare his intentions towards Harry Potter, he immediately knew it had something to do with Dumbledore and him possibly trying to control 'Harry'. When Ron left the compartment, he caught Nio's attention (a hiss and over-exaggerated swipe of claws directed towards his face) and used their impromptu signing system to say: "Suspicious. Dumbledore. Not good."

Nio rolled his eyes at Evan, "No shit, Sherlock." He was going to continue but they were joined by their third and fourth visitors of the day; to identical red-heads who Sirius guessed to be the Weasley twins.

"We heard there was-"

"-one cool cat down here." They said, trading off halfway through the sentence.

"So we thought-"

"-we'd take a look!"

Scruffs took that opportunity to stretch languidly across the seat and yawn dramatically in the twins' direction, showing each and every one of his teeth.

"Wicked!" They said in unison.

Nio stood up and offered his hand, "I'm Antonio, and that lazy lump is Scruffs." He said.

"Gred-"

"-and Forge."

"Pranksters extraordinaire-"

"-at your service." They said, each shaking his hand and then giving the most ridiculous bows Nio had ever seen, and that was saying something.

"Pranksters, eh?" Nio asked, becoming very interested. "Well, would you like to join me? I have a business proposition."

The twins' eyes lit up, "Of course, young sir-"

"-anything to help a burgeoning comrade in arms." They stepped into the compartment and eyed the benches warily; despite liking the over-sized cat, neither really wanted to sit next to it. Not to mention the fact that it was taking up almost the _entire_ seat. Nio saw their dilemma.

"Budge up Scruffs, we've got company." With a glare, Sirius curled up so he was only occupying half the bench, Nio sat next to his cat and let the twins share the opposite one. "Now then, my proposition." Nio said, much to the excitement of his new companions. "I happen to have a certain hobby that may or may not include pranking everyone and everything I set my eyes on. However, I don't yet know what sorts of pranks have already been pulled and I really dislike repeating anything. I propose an exchange, I have a rather large collection of potions and ingredients, as well as muggle pranking knowledge, and you have information. What do you say, trade?"

It didn't take long for the three of them to come to an agreement and by the time the train was getting ready to pull out from the station, they were officially partners in crime.

After the two pranksters had left, Nio and Evan received their fifth visitor, then one wanting to stay, even if he didn't look too happy about it. A small round-faced boy peeked his head around the corner and gave a small shudder when Scruffs turned his stormy grey eyes on him. But, the boy steeled himself and didn't turn away.

"H- Hi. Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else is full." The boy said.

"No, not at all." Nio said, gesturing to the empty bench across from him. When he saw the boy doing his very best to look everywhere except at Scruffs, Nio took pity on him. "Don't worry, Scruffs won't hurt you unless I tell him to, or if you try to attack me."

"Oh. Okay." The boy said nervously, then he relaxed a bit as Scruffs closed his eyes and went back to basking in the sun which was filtering through the window. "I'm Neville, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Neville, I'm Antonio and this here is Scruffs."

"Why is he called Scruffs? He's not exactly scruffy."

Nio smirked, "When he was a kitten, he was just a big ball of scruffy fur, the name kinda stuck." Actually, Nio had named him Scruffs just to piss Evan off; Evan liked to keep his hair (and therefore fur as well) in perfect condition. Nice and sleek, not scruffy at all. The name 'Scruffs' was Nio's revenge for Evan's bad behaviour.

"Oh." Neville said.

"So, what do you like to do?" Nio asked the shy boy.

Neville's face lit up, "I love to garden; me and plants, we really like each other, it's almost like they talk to me." He said enthusiastically. "What about you? Do you have any hobbies?"

Nio had to stifle a laugh; he had hobbies all right, but only some were legal and okay to share with relative strangers. It wasn't like he could tell the kid that he liked to help his father run his criminal empire, the poor boy wouldn't know what to think, especially if he was pureblood and therefore isolated from the muggle world. "Well, I like sword fighting and the martial arts, I also enjoy skateboarding and a good laugh." The two boys talked for a while longer, touching on topics such as Hogwarts' houses (Neville wanted Gryffindor but assumed he'd be in Hufflepuff), people (everyone loves a good gossip session), and their lives in general. The twins returned halfway through the trip to invite Nio to a prank planning session after the feast.

"Oh yeah, and if you can swing it-"

"-it would be great for you to be-"

"-in Gryffindor." They finished together, before continuing.

"Then we won't have to find-"

"-another secret meeting place for planning."

"I suppose Ravenclaw-"

"-would be okay."

"But Slytherin would make things-"

"-difficult."

Nio burst out laughing, the twin speak was hilarious _and_ he never thought he'd hear someone advise his house choice based on pranking convenience. "Thanks guys, I'll keep that in mind."

Neville, much to his surprise, was also invited to join them and he promised to try for Gryffindor, no matter how unlikely he considered that option to be.

On their way out, Gred scratched Scruffs under the chin and Forge ran his fingers all the way down his spine, quite effectively turning the intimidating cat into a big pile of purring goo. Sirius was then under the impression that even though he was a dog at heart, he was perfectly happy being a cat for a while. He also began to understand why cats acted so high and mighty all the time (not that he liked it).

"You know Fred," George said once the door was closed, "I _really_ hope that hid is in Gryffindor, can you imagine Percy and Ron's faces when they see that cat?"

"Yeah, Gryffindor or Slytherin. I know its the house of the snakes but imagine Snape having to deal with Scruffs." Fred said.

"Still, I'd prefer him to be with us." George responded.

"I concur dear brother of mine, I concur."

Nio smirked as he canceled his listening charm; that decided it, he was heading for Gryffindor, if only to be around the twins and annoy their brothers.

By the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, Neville and Nio were headed towards a good friendship and Nio and the twins had plans to become thick as thieves to wreak havoc on the school. Scruffs, on the other hand, just wanted the twins to come back so they could pet him again (Neville was still a bit wary of him and Nio couldn't be bothered).

The trip across the lake was rather uneventful, probably because Scruffs wasn't allowed on the boats and had to make his way up to the castle on his own (it was that or go with the elves and the luggage).

When McGonagall met them in the entrance hall, she subtly winked at Nio before putting on her stern professor face and welcoming them to Hogwarts. One thing Nio noticed upon entering the school was the fact that the whole place was completely _saturated_ with magic; the walls themselves were infused with a lattice of magic. He also took a moment to analyze his fellow first-years' magical signatures and auras, Nio wanted to make sure to remember who was who and it would be handy to know what magic came from each person. Then it was time for the sorting.

"Diadone, Antonio." McGonagall called, the effect was rather confusing for all the purebloods and a good portion of the halfbloods in the room, because there were scattered gasps around the room and a few people sat up to get a better look at the infamous Mafia Lord's son. Nio smirked, if Sirius was right about the Hogwarts' Rumor Mill then everyone would know who he was by the end of the meal, this would certainly make life interesting. The last thing Nio saw before the hat slipped over his eyes was the bushy haired girl from the train staring at him, her expression frozen somewhere between shock, awe and fear, and the dark-skinned boy who Scruffs nearly knocked over blinking rapidly and looking surprised and calculating.

As soon as the hat was placed on Antonio's head, little pockets of people around the hall started whispering; most of them at the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. Of the first years, Hermione Granger, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Terry Boot and Dean Thomas gasped and started telling their classmates that Antonio Diadone was the son of Salvatore Diadone and heir to one of the biggest Mafia families in Europe. It was then that Draco Malfoy realised just how good a decision he had made that day in Diagon Alley.

Blaise Zabini's eyes widened fractionally, he was the first generation of Zabinis in England, his family was originally from Italy and had one foot in the muggle world and one in the wizarding. His great uncle on his father's side had almost been a squib, he made the most of his small amount of magic to make a name for himself in the Italian mafia. Vicenzo Zabini's son (also an almost-squib) had then continued his father's work and made the family a force to be reckoned with in the muggle criminal underworld. Blaise's own father had been the first member of that branch of the family to be born with a large amount of magic and had ended up marrying a British witch. They had moved to England many years ago but still kept in touch with the rest of the family, even though they weren't directly involved in the business anymore. His family was rare in that the Zabini family had two main branches, that of the squibs and that of the powerful wizards, they were both rich and powerful and both were pureblood as far back as records reached. Despite living in the British wizarding world, Blaise's immediate family made sure to keep up to date on the muggle crime world's situation; after all, they _were_ Zabinis and as such had to be careful. So, long story short, Blaise had heard of the Diadone family, he just didn't know they were magical. _Dad's never going to believe me._ Was what he thought as the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron nearly fainted when the muggleborn girl Hermione explained just exactly what the criminal underworld was.

When the twins were told by Lee Jordan who the Diadones' were, they shared a grin. "Wicked!" Their 'associate' was definitely interesting; it also explained the exotic cat. When their new friend was sorted into Gryffindor, their grins widened and Percy paled. Lee looked like his birthday had come early - the twins had told him about Antonio on the way up to the castle and he couldn't wait to actually meet him.

The sorting hat fell down over Nio's eyes and he heard four voices echoing around his head.

"Seriously guys, he should be in Slytherin, he's a parseltongue, devious, cunning, ambitious. I mean, WOW!" A deep man's voice said

"No, I don't think so." A woman cut in. "His mind is so full and his understanding of magic surpasses that of even the headmaster. Ravenclaw is the place for him."

"Really you two, can't you see he belongs in Hufflepuff? The loyalty to his family and dedication just scream my house." Another woman said.

A chuckle interrupted them. "Ladies, ("Hey, I resent that!") He has both my blood and my magic. And I have this feeling ("Um, that's my job, remember?") that there is serious bravery in here. Not to mention the fact that he thinks he'd like to be in my house, he's decided on Gryffindor. Anyway, it's my hat, I get the final say!"

A quiet, and very amused voice joined the four that were already there, "You guys just can't stay out of my business, can you? I'm supposed to sort the kids, not you. And next time, keep your voices down, he heard everything."

"Oh shit!" The four voices said together.

Nio smirked; the founders were fighting over him! "Are we done yet?"

"Yes. GRYFFINDOR!" The hat announced.

When Nio took the hat off his head, he was greeted mostly by cheers but also by quite a few surprised faces. The muggleborns who knew who he was seemed to think that he wasn't exactly Gryffindor material, so it came as a bit of a surprise.

Nio headed to the Gryffindor table and down to where the twins were waving him over. "Hey guys! I'm guessing from the expressions that a few people have heard of me around here."

Fred grinned, " Actually, not as many as you would think, just enough to get the rumor mill started. So, is it true?"

"Depends," Nio said with a grin, "To what are you referring?"

"To you being the son of a mafia king person!" George exclaimed.

"Yes, that would be correct." Nio said, then extremely formally he held out a hand, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Antonio Diadone, so of Mafia Lord Salvatore Diadone. Implicated in thousands of crimes, convicted of nothing."

"Nice!" The twins said in unison.

Just as the sorting was finishing up, McGonagall called, "Zabini, Blaise." Nio's head shot up and he whipped around so he could get a better look at the student being sorted. It was the boy Evan had nearly run over on the way to the platform.

"Well, this should be interesting…" Nio said quietly. But the twins heard him.

"Interesting?" Fred repeated.

"How so?" George asked.

The Zabinis are a large crime family in Italy, we've done…business a few times. I didn't know there were any in Britain, let alone in the wizarding world." Nio explained thoughtfully. Then, as 'Zabini, Blaise' sat down at the Slytherin table, he transfigured a napkin into a piece of paper and a knife into a pen. The only witnesses to these particular feats of magic were the twins and Neville, who were all smart enough to not mention it. Nio scribbled a short message on the paper before turning to the twins, "Gred, Forge, where's a good place to meet up after hours? It needs to be easy to get to and somewhere it's hard to get caught."

"Trophy room." They said together.

"Thanks. How do you get there from the Slytherin common room?" A few seconds later Nio tapped the paper and whispered "Blaise Zabini", it disappeared without a sound.

Blaise was sitting at the Slytherin table, busy trying to tune out Marcus Flint's pureblood spiel, when a small note appeared on his lap completely silently. Making sure that no one was paying attention, he subtly picked it up.

_Mr. Zabini,_

_Please do me the courtesy of meeting with me tonight at midnight in the trophy room. I believe we have a few things we should discuss._

_Antonio Diadone_

On the back of the note was a small map showing how to get from the dungeons to the trophy room. Blaise looked up and locked eyes with Antonio who raised an eyebrow at him; with an almost imperceptible nod of his head Blaise answered the unasked question. Blaise sighed, he had just agreed to meet with one of the most dangerous men in Britain, and he didn't really have a choice. He just wondering how the Diadone heir had managed to send the note when Antonio winked and smirked at him. He hid a frown, he didn't like not knowing what was going on or how things happened.

Unbeknownst to either boy, Draco Malfoy had silently observed the entire byplay, he didn't know what the note said, he just knew that the Italian pureblood Blaise Zabini and the muggleborn mafia kid Antonio Diadone had some sort of understanding or relationship or something. As it was, he decided to keep an eye on the two of them, maybe he could find out who they really were and how they knew each other.

* * *

Sirius, as himself, snuck through the tunnel under the Shrieking Shack on his way up to the school, he could have (and probably should have) gone as Scruffs with the luggage, but he didn't really want to find out how the elves sorted through things. Anyway, this was probably going to be the last time he would be in human form for a while; Nio couldn't have a cat which constantly disappeared _right_ at the beginning of school. After a while he could probably get away with sneaking out every now and then, but not immediately. When he got to the Whomping Willow, he changed back into Padfoot and then wandlessly morphed into Scruffs. He then made his way into the castle As soon as he got to the entrance hall, he made himself invisible (thank you Nio) and snuck into the great hall. Scruffs sniffed around a while until he located Nio, he was extremely please to find that he was in Gryffindor. He weaved his way under the table through the sea of legs until he was crouched under the bench where Nio and the Weasley twins were laughing, talking and eating. He then proceeded to rub his wet nose against one of the twins' free hands.

George jumped a foot off the bench when he felt something cold and wet butt up against his hand. "Gah!"

Nio stifled a laugh; he had sensed Evan sneaking up on then and had been waiting to see what he would do. He knew that Evan knew he wouldn't be able to startle Nio, but everyone else was fair game.

George looked down at where the wet thing came from, but he couldn't see anything. "What the-" Then Scruffs let his head become visible again. "Scruffs?" He whispered.

"What?" Fred asked.

"It's Scruffs, he stuck his nose in my hand. And he's invisible!"

"Invisible" Fred repeated. "Scruffs can go invisible? He asked Nio.

Nio grinned, "Yeah, Scruffs has a few unique…talents." He said mysteriously.

Neville frowned, "I don't think I've ever heard of a cat who can become invisible."

"Me neither." Added Fred. They all looked expectantly at Nio who threw his hands up in a gesture of innocence.

"Don't ask me." He said. "I didn't buy him, he found me!"

Neville looked placated but the twins were convinced that Nio knew more than he was letting on. Then again, everyone was allowed their secrets, it's not like they'd ever tell anyone about the map.

Scruffs slowly let his head fade away until all that was left was a Cheshire grin, not that Neville or the twins appreciated the reference.

* * *

Instead of waiting for the prefects to show them the way to the common room, Neville and Nio found themselves being dragged off by the twins who showed them how to get there in half the time. They then introduced the two first years to a small corner where the prank planning usually took place. After showing them to their dorm, Neville and Nio were left to their own devices for the rest of the evening.

Things go interesting when the other first year Gryffindor boys arrived in the dorm. By that time, Scruffs had turned himself visible again - scaring Neville half to death in the process - and was now lounging on Nio's bed.

"AH!" Ronald Weasley yelled when he noticed the large black cat, "What is that _thing_ doing in our dorm?"

"I believe 'it' is getting ready for a nap." Nio drawled, "And 'it' happens to be a rather intelligent cat so insulting it probably isn't the smartest thing to do."

Ron paled and stumbled back a few steps. "Well- well- just keep him away from Scabbers!" He said before claiming the bed as far away from Nio's as possible.

"Who's Scabbers? Your canary?" Nio asked.

"No! Scabbers is my rat!"

Sirius, who had been subtly following the conversation, stopped pretending to be only mildly interested. He hopped off the bed and stalked over to Ron who was keeping a tight grip on the struggling rat. One look was all Sirius needed to identify Peter Pettigrew in his animagus form; he hissed and bared his teeth, but knew it wouldn't be a good idea to just eat the traitor. Despite being 'dead', Sirius still wanted his name to be cleared and that couldn't be done with a dead rat. After scaring the pants off Ron, Sirius sniffed the rat then feigned indifference and went back to Nio's bed. He was basically saying that Scabbers just wasn't worth his attention. Much to his amusement, Ron nearly fainted in relief as Scruffs curled up, wrapping his tail around him as he settled into the duvet.

Nio laughed, "I don't think you have to worry about your rate, Scruffs doesn't seem to be interested in it."

Neville chuckled, "Yeah, talk about being given the cold shoulder."

All the boys - with the exception of Ron - laughed and started to unpack.

"So, Antonio, are you really the son of Salvatore Diadone?" Dean asked as they climbed into bed.

"Yeah, that's me Antonio Dominick Diadone, son of Salvatore Diadone." Nio said proudly.

"And is your family really part of the muggle mafia?" Seamus asked, with more than a little apprehension.

"I suppose you could say that, but we prefer to think that we're the leaders, competition doesn't last that long." Nio said with a smirk.

Seamus looked to Dean for confirmation, Dean shrugged, "Hey, I'm not an _expert_ on the crime world, I just knew he was part of it."

Nio grinned, "Well, my dad will be pleased to hear that our reputation has spread to the wizarding world. Then again, I'm never going to hear the end of it…evil bastard will be so smug when he finds out." All four boys looked at him like he was crazy, "What? It's not like his ego is lacking." Nio defended.

Dean grinned, "Yeah, definitely his son, no one else would make is publically known that they considered him an 'evil bastard' or insult his ego." With that, the boys said their goodnights and closed the drapes around their beds.

Nio on the other hand, closed, locked and silenced his; he needed to have a chat with a certain feline/canine/human friend of his.

* * *

Reviews make me happy!**  
**


	10. Allies

**The Diadone Method**

**Chapter Ten - Allies**

* * *

Author's note: Sorry for the wait, thank you for your patience. I hope you like it!

* * *

Dumbledore sat in his throne-like chair in the Great Hall, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first years; this was the year Harry Potter would be joining their ranks, it was time for step two in his grand plan for control of the Boy Who Lived. Step one was alienate him from the wizarding world and make sure he didn't have a very good childhood, step two was to mold him into the perfect hero who would eventually become the willing martyr. After all, a boy who could throw off a killing curse was too powerful to be allowed to hang around; that much power was too easy to corrupt.

When the first years started filing into the hall, Dumbledore subtly scanned their faces looking for the telltale mop of black hair attached to a face with glasses covering killing curse green eyes. He nearly fell out of his chair when he couldn't find what he was looking for; there was no one who looked like James Potter, Lily Potter or a combination of the two. But he didn't panic, it was entirely possible that he grew up to look completely different; he would wait until the sorting was over before showing any concern.

Dumbledore briefly considered that maybe he should have checked up on the boy once in a while but he quickly dismissed that thought; he was sure the Durselys did their job of keeping him downtrodden and lonely, but he also trusted Petunia to get him here in one piece. Dumbledore was briefly brought out of his musing when the muggleborns got all excited about a kid called Antonio Diadone, but because none of the staff - himself included - kept up to date on muggle news, he didn't have any idea what the big deal was. However, when McGonagall got to 'Rosland, Samuel' and 'Potter, Harry' hadn't been called, Albus went into full-blown freak out mode. Not that he would ever refer to it as such, that was too undignified, no, he preferred to think of it as going on 'emergency alert'.

But as Albus looked around the room he noted that not many other were panicking, Ronald Weasley (who he had picked out to be Harry's influential best friend, thank you compulsion charms) looked vaguely disappointed before turning back to his neighbor and continuing his conversation. Minerva, much to his surprise, didn't even bat an eye and the rest of the hall seemed to have forgotten that Harry was supposed to be starting school this year. It didn't even occur to him that they just thought Harry was still in hiding and being given private tutoring.

After the feast Dumbledore hurried back to his office, he had a celebrity to find. In his haste, he completely forgot to mention that the third floor corridor was off-limits.

* * *

Minerva had to stifle a laugh as she saw Albus race off to his office, no doubt he would be spending a good chunk of his time searching for the now nonexistent Harry Potter. She just hoped she would be around to witness the inevitable mental breakdown when he found that Harry Potter had dropped off the face of the earth.

Harry Potter's trail ended with lost adoption papers and Albus couldn't even go after Rebecca Charleston who had received custody of Harry from Sirius because he'd already convinced her that Harry was safe where Albus had left him. For all that he knew, Becca had never even seen the boy.

As she walked to Gryffindor tower to welcome her lions back, Minerva laughed and wondered when she'd developed such a mean streak. _Probably when Albus left a baby on a doorstep in __November_. She thought as she said the password to the tower.

* * *

_Previously: With that, the boys said their good nights and closed the drapes around their beds. _

_Nio on the other hand, closed, locked and silenced his; he needed to have a chat with a certain feline/canine/human friend of his._

When Sirius was sure that Nio's bed was secure, he morphed back to Padfoot and from there into Evan.

"Evan, you'll never believe who is here at Hogwarts." Nio said at exactly the same times as Evan said;

"Nio, Peter is here."

"WHAT!?" Nio said loudly, thanking his ability to completely silence his surroundings.

"Yeah, he's Scabbers, Ron's rat." Sirius said with a growl. "I'd recognize him anywhere."

"Wow. Congratulations on not killing the traitorous bastard." Nio said. He was impressed that Evan had managed not to eat the rat, after all, it was Peter Pettigrew who was responsible for ruining Sirius' life and killing his best friend. "We will have to figure out what to do with him."

"True, but we have all year to do that." Sirius said, mentally patting himself on the back for acting like the responsible adult he was supposed to be. "But you said something about someone else being here?"

"Right, there a kid named Blaise Zabini, and judging by his reaction to my name at the sorting, he related to the Zabinis we know."

"Really, what was his reaction?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow; it could get awkward if the Zabinis were making a move in Britain, magical or muggle world.

"It was a very schooled reaction, just a flicker of recognition and surprise; no offense but I don't think even you would have noticed it."

"None taken." Sirius said with a shrug.

"Anyway, I sent him a note telling him to meet me in the trophy room at midnight."

"Good idea, we need to know if he's part of the active family and if so, how involved they are. Also, if they have plans for Britain; Sal won't appreciate the competition."

"I agree." Harry said. "That's why I set up the meeting, then we can report to Dad."

Nio and Evan spent the next few hours reading and dozing, respectively. At 11:30 they both turned invisible (and Evan back into Scruffs) so as to avoid detection during their first midnight foray into the school.

* * *

Blaise settled into his dorm and immediately hid in his bed, he wished he could call his dad from Hogwarts but not only would it fry the phone, but it was probably a _really_ bad idea to pull out such a muggle device in the Slytherin dorms. He might be a pureblood, but a cellphone was a one-way ticket to seven years of hell.

Blaise was so restless that instead of waiting till 11:45 (which was when he needed to leave) he snuck out of his dorm at 11, meaning he arrived _way_ too early. But hey, at least he could look at the trophies while he waited, he headed for the hold Quidditch cups. He worked backwards from 1900, when he got to 1977, he recognized the captain's name; James Potter. Potter.

There had been quite a lot of quiet speculation about the whereabouts of Harry Potter, he was supposed to have started Hogwarts this year, but he was no where to be found. Blaise didn't really see what the big deal was; he was probably in hiding or disguise or something, he _was_ a celebrity after all.

His thoughts were interrupted as Antonio and his 'cat' arrived and it only took a split second for Blaise to realize why he brought the cat;the intimidation factor alone was almost more than if he'd been openly carrying a gun. That wasn't to say that Blaise didn't think Antonio had a gun on him, quite the opposite in fact; he was almost positive that the Diadone heir had some sort of weapon tucked away in those robes, probably more than one.

"Mr. Diadone." Blaise greeted, "I have to say, it is a surprise to see you here."

Nio smiled as he led the way to a desk which he had conjured on his way in. "I could say the same Mr. Zabini. I assumed from your reaction at the feast that you are, in fact, a member of the Italian Zabini family?"

Blaise nodded so Nio continued, "I was unaware that the Zabinis had a presence here in Britain."

Blaise wished that his parents had been a bit more involved in the family business, then he might have had a better idea of what to do in this sort of situation. This was _not_ what he had been expecting to do on his first night at Hogwarts; he had thought he's be fending off Malfoy (it was well known in Britain that the Zabinis were rich Italian purebloods), not meeting with the heir to one of the biggest crime empires in Europe.

With a deep breath, Blaise took his first steps into the criminal underworld. "First, I want you to know that I am in no way, shape or form authorized to speak on behalf of the Zabinis-" Antonio cut him off.

"If you're old enough to go to boarding school, you should know that you're old enough to represent your family. If you weren't you should have used a fake name." Nio said in a rather patronizing tone of voice. He knew that Blaise had _not_ been expecting someone like Nio to be here but it was true, as soon as you're able to carry on a semi-intelligent conversation, you're a face of the family.

Nio took pity on the poor kid, "But that's not the point, continue."

"Right, um..." Blaise said nervously. "Uh, yeah...So, I guess the best way to put it is to say that the Zabinis, as a family, aren't doing anything here, the business is still only operating on the mainland."

Nio smiled, "Okay, that's good, I wouldn't have liked having to deal with you. But if you're not up to something, why are you here without changing your last name or informing people like my dad? Surely you'd be worried about being recognized, you could have easily avoided a situation like this."

Blaise sighed, "In the wizarding world the Zabinis are an old and well-known pureblood family, on the mainland at least. That sort of notoriety is a very good way of keeping your family safe, especially in the last 30 years of so.

"I guess we didn't expect anyone to know enough about both the muggle and wizarding world to make, or even _think_ to make the connection between the mafia Zabinis and the pureblood Zabinis. Especially since the 'family business' was started, and continues to be run, by a long line of squibs."

Blaise really wanted to ask about Antonio's background and possible Diadone activity in the magical world, but knew enough to know that pureblood status or not, he was on Antonio's turf here; should the boy decide to, he could easily make Blaise's life extremely difficult. _And_, the Diadones were so powerful that if they really tried, they could probably ruin the entire Zabini family. His parents would probably kill him personally.

Nio's brow furrowed as he rapidly processed this information, he worked though each and every possible history scenario and future ramifications of the situation, "I see." He said, after he narrowed down the options in less than five seconds, "So how did you end up in England?"

"My father married an English witch and they decided to move back to England to raise us kids. Also, I don't know how much you know about Italian wizarding politics but about 25 years ago, an anti-pureblood movement was started. The movement was really popular and about 20 years ago they held the majority of the seats in government. As a relatively young member of the well-known and _very_ pureblood Zabini family, my parents thought it would be in their best interest to leave Italy for a while."

"Interesting." Nio said, that scenario was number nine on his list. "Now, I can see that you're just dying to ask me some questions but worried that I'll be insulted and take it out on your family. So first of all I'd like to inform you that while we have a truly ruthless reputation, the Diadones don't go after people for no good reason. So, ask away."

"How long have the Diadones been magical? Why doesn't anyone seem to know you? Is your success due to the use of magic? How do you deal with the Statute of Secrecy? Are you the first Diadone at Hogwarts?" The questions tumbled out of Blaise's mouth before he could really think about them.

Nio smiled, "I would think the answer to all those questions is obvious, I'm the first Diadone with magic."

Blaise took a moment to think, then, much to Nio's surprise, he started to laugh. "Oh that brilliant!"

"What?" Nio asked with an intimidating scowl.

"The purebloods won't know what hit them!" Blaise managed to say through his laughter. "A muggleborn with more money and power than they could possibly imagine. Almost everyone in the magical world looks down on muggles, the purebloods especially, they think that that muggle world has nothing worth anything, they will probably insult and belittle you. I can't _wait_ to see this, it won't even matter if you don't have much magic!"

Nio smirked, "Oh, I don't think that that will be a problem; us Diadones don't do anything halfway, I have a shit ton of magic. Turns out, my godfather was magical, as soon as he saw my first bit of accidental magic he started training me..." As a demonstration Nio flicked his wand (just for show) and vanished the table and chairs, he then caught himself and Blaise with semi-solid air before they hit the ground.

Blaise gaped; not only could Antonio do silent magic, but he could also vanish things before they first class! "Okay then, that makes it official, the purebloods are screwed."

"I agree. Now, I know you said you can't speak on behalf of your family but I have an offer for _you_. If you want, you can owl your parents before you answer cause I'm pretty sure this is all very new to you. See, I have plans for the wizarding world and it is always good to have allies, especially when starting a new endeavor.

"In this case, my father will only be involved to a certain extent, he has the current Diadone empire under control but his ability to work in the wizarding world will be slightly limited.

"I would like to extend my hand of friendship to you, personally. If your father wants to contact mine they could possibly work out something between them, but this particular friendship will just be between you and me. I think we can do great things together."

Nio knew that he would eventually be taking over from his father so any alliances made by his father would most likely pass on to Nio, but he also understood the importance of building his own relationships and networks beyond those of his father. Here was a perfect opportunity to do so, and with someone who, like him, had a foot in both worlds.

Blaise's mind froze and then started racing; Antonio Diadone was offering his "hand of friendship". In mafia speak that meant an alliance which went beyond the normal "You watch my back, I'll watch yours", this sort of relationship could either be a really good thing, or really bad one.

On one hand, a friendship not only earned you the protection of the family but also a certain closeness that could be compared to that of arranged marriages, but not quite that extreme. On the other hand, if they went down, you did too. This being a Diadone's offer made it virtually impossible to refuse, even though he and his parents weren't really involved with the other part of their family, Blaise knew that saying 'no' would be similar to saying 'I plan on working against you'; not a smart thing to say to a Diadone.

Nio watched as Blaise seemed to struggle with the decision, the poor kid was a bit out of his comfort zone here, so he decided to put him at ease. "Zabini, I know what you're thinking about and I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to take it the wrong way if you say no. I understand that this isn't what you were expecting when you came to Hogwarts as well as the fact that you and your parents don't seem to be involved with the family business.

"If you want to just be friends in the regular sense of the word I'm not going to hold it against you. I also don't expect you to make possibly life-changing decisions at one in the morning in a dusty trophy room. We can talk again in a few years, assuming of course you keep your nose out of trouble. The same goes for if you decide you're not really interesting in continuing working together, I'm not exactly asking for a binding contract or anything."

Blaise let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, he really had no idea what he was doing here, all he knew was that the Diadones were rice, powerful and extremely influential and that Antonio seemed like a cool kid who also happened to have an amazing amount of control over his magic.

The part of him that knew about the way the whole crime world thing worked was telling him that he had a _lot_ to gain from being friends with Antonio. The part of him who knew of the ruthlessness and inconsistency of relationships and alliances in Slytherin and the pureblood community in general, was telling him that this was a genuine offer of friendship which would last forever unless one of them betrayed the other.

"You know, I think we can do this. I accept."

Nio grinned, "Great. Now, the relationship between Slytherin and Gryffindor being what it is, I suggest we keep this between ourselves, at least in the wizarding world."

"I agree." Blaise said. "Anyway, it's past one, I have a letter to write and we both have class tomorrow, I suggest we call it a night."

"Sounds good. I will be in touch, and don't be afraid to contact me, I meant what I said about friendship, we're both 11 year old kids, this doesn't have to just be a formal working relationship. Maybe we can work on fixing things between our houses, it would make life a hell of a lot easier."

Nio thought for a moment, "And you can call me Antonio, we are friends after all."

Blaise smiled, this had the potential to be very interesting...first name basis with a Diadone. Now that was _not_ something that happened every day. "And you can call me Blaise, but no offense, it should probably be just between us."

Nio nodded and walked out of the room. Blaise gathered himself back together, pasted a very mild pureblood expression on his face and headed back to his dorm.

* * *

Blaise slipped back into his dorm only to find that Draco Bloody Malfoy was still awake, he groaned, he'd heard all about the Malfoy family from his father _and_ his mother.

Draco scowled as he saw Blaise Zabini try to sneak back into the dorm, it was nearly two in the morning, what could he _possibly_ have been doing?

"Sneaking out on the first night, Zabini?" Draco drawled.

Blaise rolled his eyes, "It's none of your business, Malfoy." He said with a frown, he really didn't want to have to deal with any more politics tonight. He and Antonio might have ended their meeting as friends but it started as a political dance to which he barely knew the steps.

"What the hell were you doing? It's the _first_ night?" Draco continued, undeterred.

_Oh, just making friends with probably the most powerful and wealthy kid in Europe._ Blaise said in his mind, out loud he said; "I repeat, none of your business, _Malfoy._ Now get your pompous nose out of my life and go to sleep." He said, putting a lot of emphasis on Draco's last name.

Draco frowned, he hadn't really expected Blaise to tell him what he'd been up to but the boy's cold attitude and repeated use of his last name gave him the feeling that he was being judged, and found wanting. It wasn't a nice feeling.

From what his father had drilled into him, he had been given the impression that he'd be respected and held in a sort of awe by his classmates; he was quickly finding that this wasn't always true. He was also realizing that his father had been wrong about a few other things as well so he made another good decision (not that he understood it's gravity at the time).

"Hey!" Draco called quietly to Blaise, "I don't know what your problem is, but you have no reason to be so rude, you haven't even met me yet."

"You're a Malfoy, you rule the world." Blaise said sarcastically. "What more is there to know?"

Draco almost wanted to smack his palm on his forehead like he'd seen a few of other people do but didn't because it would probably leave a mark; his father was obviously wrong about the name 'Malfoy' holding respect everywhere you went.

"I'm not my father, I'm my own person." Draco said more confidently than he felt, it wasn't everyday you announced your differences from your family to another pureblood. "It'd be nice if you could hold off judging me until you have something to judge other than my name."

Blaise raised an eyebrow, this was an unexpected development, a Malfoy with a personality. Between Antonio and now Draco, this was looking to be a very interesting year. And Blaise had a bad (or was it good?) feeling that he'd be right in the middle of it. Hey, at least he wouldn't be bored.

* * *

Earlier in the Gryffindor first year boys' dormitory:

Neville was laying in bed trying to make sense of everything that had happened that day; for the first time in his life he'd made a friend his own age and he'd been invited to join two older students in their rule-breaking adventures. _Then_ he'd found out that his new friend was the son of a rich, powerful, muggle criminal. It was all very overwhelming. He'd also seen said new friend perform some pretty advanced magic just to send a note to another first year.

Just as he was finally about to fall asleep, Neville heard Antonio and Scruffs slip out of bed and then out the door. Wondering what on earth the boy could be up to, Neville followed him down to the common room. Unfortunately, by the time he got there, Antonio and his cat-ish pet were gone, probably to the trophy room, which he'd asked for directions to from the twins. Neville sighed, maybe he'd wait up for him to get back and then ask him what was going on.

* * *

Fred and George hopped completely silently out of bed, grabbed their trusty map and headed to the common room. It was time to see what their new mini crime lord friend was up to, more specifically, who from Slytherin he was meeting in the trophy room in the middle of the night. When they got downstairs, they weren't too surprised to see Neville on one of the couches.

"Fancy seeing you here." Fred said.

"Who would have thought that our mafia friend's roommate would notice his nighttime wanderings." George added.

"It's not like he knew the crime kid was up to something."

"Or that he could probably hear him get out of bed."

Neville looked up at the twins. "Hey guys." He said with a smile. "I was going to ask him if I could join him but he left before I had a chance to ask."

"Well dear friend, would you like in on a secret?"

"One of Hogwarts' best kept secrets in who knows how many years?"

Neville's eyes lit up, people were trusting him with their secrets already? This was amazing. "Sure!" He said enthusiastically. "I'd love to."

The twins ushered Neville over to 'their' corner. They briefly wondered what it was about these two first years that had caught their attention and made them so eager to share their map, but shrugged it off, they were following their instincts which had _never _led them astray.

Fred pulled the Marauder's Map out of his pocket and spread it on the table, he muttered the password under his breath (no need to spill _all_ the secrets) and leaned back so Neville and George could see too.

Neville's jaw went slack, he couldn't believe what he was seeing; it was a _complete_ map of Hogwarts, with _people_ on it. There were little name tags attached to little dots, some moving, some not.

George manipulated the map until it was focused on the trophy room. When he and Fred saw the names, they were speechless for a full minute. There, right in front of then, were the names 'Padfoot' and 'Prongs Jr.' The fact that the third name was Blaise Zabini really didn't hold a candle to the fact that the map, which never lied, was telling them that one of it's creators was in the school.

Neville on the other hand, was just confused. "Guys? I thought this was supposed to show names, this just has Padfoot and Prongs Jr. written on it. Those aren't real names.

"Do you know what this means?" George asked his twin, completely ignoring Neville.

"That our dear Antonio and the lovely Scruffs are _much_ more than they say they are." Then the two took pity on Neville and explained about the Marauders and what the implications of the names on the map were.

* * *

Nio was exhausted, but extremely pleased by the time he returned to the Gryffindor tower, his dad would be happy with his progress, and classes hadn't even started yet. Not to mention the fact that he now had four friends around his own age, that really was a first.

However, Nio's good mood vanished the moment he entered the common room and he was confronted with three set of accusing eyes. Before he even got a chance to explain, one of the twins started speaking.

"Welcome back, Antonio and Scruffs."

"Or should we say, Padfoot and Prongs Jr.?"

Nio and Evan froze, eyes wide and slightly panicked. But it didn't take long for Nio to figure it out.

"The Map." Nio said quietly. "Fuck it, I forgot about that bloody map."

"Yeah, the map." Neville said with a frown. "And according to Gred and Forge, the map never lies."

"It doesn't." Nio conceded. "It can't."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't explain why your name is currently listed as..." Fred looked inquiringly at George who checked the map.

"Prongs Jr." George said.

Neville's frown turned into a full-blown scowl. "And why Scruffs is labeled as Padfoot."

Sirius felt like banging his head against the wall, he had been planning on sneaking into Filch's office to retrieve the map but it appeared he was a bit too late. The only good thing about the situation was that when the Marauders made the map, they charmed it to show their nicknames, not their real names. Otherwise the twins and Neville would be looking at Harry Potter and Sirius Black. That would _not_ have been good.

"Care to explain?" George asked, crossing his arms.

Nio grimaced, "Do we have to?"

Fred immediately picked up on the 'we' in that sentence. "What do you mean 'we'?"

Nio turned to Scruffs, "You think we can trust them?" He asked.

Sirius stared intently at the twins and Neville. He nodded, gave a cat shrug and then sat down. He tapped his head with a paw and then swiped his paw over the top of it before crossing his eyes and shaking his head.

It took a moment but Nio figured out what Evan was trying to say. 'Yes, but we can always wipe their memories.' Then Evan spread his paws as wide as possible and hooked his two smallest toes together. Nio stifled a laugh, a cat indicating a pinkie-swear, now _that_ was something you don't see every day.

The boys watched as Scruffs did some very un-cat-like things, then Nio turned his attention back to them. "Okay, we'll tell you but we reserve the right to obliviate you if we fell you're a risk, we also need vows from each of you.

The twins looked at each other and seemed to hold a conversation with their eyes, Neville just stared at Scruffs (or Padfoot if the map was to be believed) like he was from mars. Hesitantly he nodded his head, it sounded like it would be worth it. The twins came to the same conclusion.

Nio nodded. "Okay, but the common room isn't the best place to do this so why don't we go to the room of requirement?" Nio was greeted by three blank faces. "The come and go room? No? Well, I guess you'll be learning something new today."

The twins looked so excited that they might just explode, after all, they had already been illegally exploring the school for two years and this was something they'd never heard of, let alone found.

Nio nodded to Evan who flicked his tail and led the way out of the common room with the four students hurrying after him. On the way to the room of requirement, Nio was trying to decide how much to tell the three boys; obviously they'd reveal that Evan was a dog animagus who could morph into a cat and that Nio was descended from 'Prongs', but the question was, do they pretend that Prongs was his mother or do they admit that Nio was adopted. Then there was the million dollar question, would they reveal their real names, or would they stay as Antonio and Evan? _Oh well,_ Nio thought_ I guess I'll just have to play it by ear._

Sirius walked up and down the hallway three times to make the door appear, then he used his paws to open it - his cat form was still tall enough that it wasn't much of a reach at all.

When Fred and George saw the door appear and Scruffs/Padfoot open it they both grinned. "Wicked."

"Nice." Nio said, looking around at the replica of one of the smaller lounge rooms in the mansion; this was where he, Vince and Evan would just hang out when they weren't doing anything else. It was also where Nio and Evan had their Final Fantasy marathon that lasted nearly a week.

As soon as the door was closed, Sirius changed back to Padfoot and then to himself (albeit with brown hair); Neville squeaked and the twins jumped much to Sirius' amusement. He knew from personal experience that it was really hard to surprise a prankster.

Nio smirked, "Evan, you frightened them." He admonished jokingly.

"Why yes, I did." Sirius said proudly. "That was kinda the point."

"You- but- cat- and- animagus..." Fred stuttered.

"I think what my brother is trying to say is that he thought it was impossible to change the form of your animagus." George added helpfully.

Sirius grinned again, "I didn't really change my animagus, it's just a bit of wandless transfiguration. What _I'd_ like to know is how you managed to get your hands on my old map."

It was Fred's turn to smile, "Well, way back when were were ickle firsties, we had yet to perfect our pranking ways and ended up being caught by Filch."

"We have since become much more accomplished and do _not_ get caught anymore."

"He has an entire drawer in his office labeled _"Confiscated_ _and_ _Highly_ _Dangerous." _

"Naturally, we took a look." George said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"A piece of blank parchment was hidden away at the back and we knew that it must be interesting." Fred added.

"It took us a few days to figure out how to activate it bit it's been the secret to our success ever since." George finished.

Sirius looked at the twins with something akin to pride. "Well, I _was_ going to demand that you return it but the fact that you found it in your first year and have been using it ever since is just too impressive. I hope you continue to use it well."

"And let us borrow it every now and then." Nio added.

"Ah yeah, that too." Sirius said with a grin.

* * *

Author's note: So, that's all for now. I'm sorry for the evil waits between updates but unfortunately University and sleep come first. Anyway, I _will_ be finishing this story eventually, just bear with me.


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